George  Washington  Flo 

Memorial  Collection 

Dlkl   i  MVI  RSI  IV  I  [BRART 


ESTABLISHED  BV  THE 
FAMILY  Or 

COLONEL  \  LOWBEI 


/  *h*" 


A  DISCOURSE 


COMMEMORATIVE    OF    THE 


LIFE,  CHARACTER,  AND  GENIUS 


or    THE    LATE 


REV.  J.  H.  THOMWELL,  D.D.,  LL.D.; 

Professor  op  Didactic  akb  Polemic  Theoloot  i*  the  Thxolooical  Semtnabt  at 
Columbia.  S.  C 


DELIVERED 


By  Rev.  B.  M.  TALMER,  D.  D. 


0  i,r  M  MA,  fi    i 

MOTH]  IAN  8TF.' ■••  PREBft. 

1  -62. 


^  library 

DISCOURSE.* 


"  We  all  of  u-  reverent  e,  and  must  ever  reveren 
men  i  "  u<v.  adda  Mr.  ( larlyle,  in  his terse,  epigrammatic  way, 
"the  history  of  what  man  ha>  accomplished  in  this  world 
is  at  bottom  the  history  of  the  great  men  who  have  worked 
here;"  "in  every"  epoch,  the  great  event,  parent  o 
others,  i-  it  not  the  arrival  of  a  thinker  who  teacbea  other 
nicn  Jris  way  of  thought,  and  spreads  the  shadow  <>t  hi-  <>wn 
Likeness  Over  sections  of  the  history  of  the  world?  "  Wh.lt 
remains  have  we  of  the  hoary  past,  §ave  a  few  monumental 
works,  and  a  few  names  linked  to  th<^<-  in  eternal  memory  ? 
All  beside  is  buried  in  the  fbrgetfulnees  of  history,  from 
which  there  is  no  resurrection.  And  when  this  busy  time 
<>t' <>ur-  BhaU  retreat  before  the  coming  age  that  crowds  it 
.  thai  n<»w  Write,  and  plot,  and  work,  will  flit 
among  ti,  l  be  known  M  the  nun  without  v, 

ild  not  have  bean!     The  worl«  •■  masters 

nnn-i  A-  tnnii  l  l'b  nndnlatin  o 

only  here  and  there  a  mountain  peak  lift- 

nnli'iir.  wrapping  t'  •  around  it* 

atinterva  -  a  trne  thinker  lift  hii 

ahoae  the  mean  Level  upon  whicb 


*  The  M  1 

i  t.  ThornwelL,  rai  de 

na,  oil  t! 

and  in   ll  -r4  of 


' 


ration  of  society  demands  this  gradation 
in  in  teacher  and  taught,  betvi 

i  the  led;  and  do  such  democracy  will  ever 
i.  in  which  the  many  do  H01  DOW  with  tin-  in- 
stinct of  loyalty  before  the  Imperial  supremacy  of  tho%e 
whom  God  haa  given  to  be  princes  in  intellect  among  them. 
Christian  Gathers  and  brethren,  such  a  thinker  has  passed 
from  the  midst  of  oft;  and  we  ail  together  this  day  under 
the  shadow  dt'  a  bitter  bereavement,  doing  homage  to  one 
of  earth's  best  heroes — it  is  assembled  Greece  placing  the 
laurel  wreath  upon  the  brow  of  one  who  wrestled  nobly  in 
the  Olympic  game iof  life.    A  bright  and  beautiful  vision 
anished  from  us  forever :  a  man  gifted  with  the  highest 
genius, — Dot  that  fatal  gifl  of  genius  which,  without  guid- 
.  so  often  blasts  its  possessor,  its  baleful  gleam  blighting 
every  thing  pure  and  true  on  earth, — but  genius  disciplined 
by  the  severest  culture,  and  harnessing  itself  t«~>  the  practical 
duties  of  Life,  until  it  wrought  a  work  full  of  blessing  and 

comfort  to  mankind:  a  mind  which  ranged  through  the 
broad  fields  of  human  knowledge,  gathered  up  the  t'ruits  of 
almost  universal  learning,  and  wove  garlands  of  beauty 
around  d  »ns  the  mosl  thorny  and  abstruse;  an  intel- 

lect   Steeped    in    philosophy,   which  soared    UpOD    its   eagle 

wings  into  the  highest  regions  of  speculative  thought. then 
stooped  with  meek  docility  and  worshipped   in  childlike 

faith  at  the  CIOH  of  Christ  :  a  man  who  held  eomiuuuion 
with  all  of  SVerj   age   that    had   eternal    thoughts,  and  then 

brought  the  treasures  hoarded  in  the  literature  of  the  past, 
and  sanctified  them  to  the  uses  of  practical  religion.  Yet. 
:i  man  Dot  coldlj  'Meat,  but  who  could  stoop  from  h«ft\  oew- 

templatiOD  tO  .-port  and  t  >\   with  theloving  Ones  around  his 

hcarin.-toii,-  jjvith  a  heart  warm  with  the  instincts  of  firiend- 
ahip,  so  bravi .  terous  and  true,  that  admiration  of  his 

genius  was  Lost  in  affection  for  the  man,  and  the  breatjb  of 
eu\  ,  ingle  leaf  of  all  the  honors  with 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.   Thornwcll.  5 

which  a  grateful  generation  crowned  him.    Alas!  that  death 
should  have  power  to  crush  ou1  suoh  a  lit'*'!     Our  Ohrysos- 

tom  is  no  more!     The  "golden  mouth"   is  sealed  up  in 
silence  for  ever ! 

"The  ohord.  tho  harp'a  full  chord,  is  hushed; 
Tin-  voir.'  h'lih  dud 

Whence  music,  lTki-  sweel  waters,  gushed 
But  3 

"  The  glory  of  man  is  as  the  flower  of  grass ;  "  "  our  fathers, 
where  are  they:  and  the  prophets,  do  they  live  for4  <■<>• 
Tin-  men  who  with  their  heroic  deeds  make  history  to-day, 
become  its  theme  and  song  to-morrow! 

This  rude  outline,  dashed  upon  the  canvass,  it  is  the  privi- 
lege of  one  who  loved  him  well  to  fill  up  now  with  cautious 
touches;  and  if  the  affection  of  the  artist  should  impart  a 
warmth  of  coloring  to  the  picture,  the  truthfulness  of  the 
portraiture  will  yet,  we  trust,  vindicate  itself  to  those  who 
knew  the  original. 

l>r.  James  II.  Thornwcll  was  born  of  poor  but  honorable 
parentage,  December  9,  1812,  in  the  District  of  Chesterfield) 
South  Carolina;  hut  as  hi-  parents  removed,  in  the  -ccond 
month  of  his  infancy,  into  Marlborough,  he  always  hailed 
from  the  latter  I  ►istrict,  where  he  simp  1  being  born, 

and  with  which  the  associations  of  his  boyhood  were  identi- 
fied.    By  the  early  death  of  I  r,  a  young  family  was 
thrown,  in  straitened  circumstances,  upon  the  guidi 
widowed  mother,  who  pn                    i  often  the  ease,  i 
to  her  high                                  ibed  by  those  who  knew 

woman  \  landing,  i 

strength  <>f  will,  firm  .  and  a  bound 

hition  for  the  advancement  of  her  sons,  in  who 
indications   ol    more   than  ordina 

ire  thus  furnished  with  another  ill  Millar 

Id,  intellectual  trait* 


.  while  i  lie  moral  qualities  I 

more  conspicuously   from  th<-  paternal.     It  may  well  be 

•  ioned  if  hit  ingle  ii  of  a  truly 

•  man  who  I  •  !  for  his  mother.     It  is  still  i 

u  rve,  in  this  the  fulfilment  of  His 

promise)  who  has  said :  "  Leave  th*  fatherless  children,  1  will 
preserve  them  alive,  and  let  thy  wiaows  trust  in  me."     Who 

of  been  compelled  to  ootice  the  blessing  of  Gk)d  apon 
broken  households,  in  which  b  feeble  and  desolate 
woman  baa  lifted  op  her  soul  to  God  for  strength  to  bear 
the  burdens  of  her  own  Bex,  increased  by  these  which  should 
have  devolved  apon  her  Btrioken  fellow  J  amidst  weakness 
and  pain,  poverty  and  Borrow,  toiling  to  su^porl  her  father- 

ones,  and  reaping,  in  the  lapse  of  yean,  the  pious 
widow's  reward,  in  Beeing  her  orphan  children  emerge 
from  obscurity  and  want   to  the   highest   distinctions  in 

y ':    The  full  recompense  of  her  toil  and  tears  was 

d  out  to  this  widowed  mother;  she  lived  to  see  her 

prophetic  hdpes  realized,  as  her  son.  clothed  with  all  the 

honors  of  the  academician,  sat  among  the  senators  and 

nobles  of  the  land,  the  noblest  patrician  of  them  all,  the 

pride  of  his  Dative  State  the  joy  and  ornament  of  the 

Church,  and,  with  a  Came  spread  over  two  continents,  the 

peerless  man  of  his  time.     At  length,  in  a  satisfied  old 

she  lay  dowq  to  her  long  rest  beneath  his  roof;  and  now  the 

lasting  marble  speaks  the  revefenoe  he  felt  through  I'm 

her  to  whose  firm  guidance  the  waywardness  of  bis  youth 

much  a  debtor. 

The  education  of  young  Thonawell  was  commenced  in 

log-cabin  schools  which  have  oof  yel  entirely 

disappeared  from  the  country.    Bat  the  first  teacher  whose 

uaiuc  deserves  to  be  linked  with  his  in  grateful  remem- 

brsjnjee    was   a    Mr.    \lt  luivre,    from    North    Carolina,    who 

taught  in,  his  mother's  neighborhood  one  of  those  mixed 
schools,  partly  supported  bj  I  chool  policj  of  the 


The  J cir   h'rr.  Dr.  Thormn-ll.  7 

State  and  partly  by  the  fees  of  more  affluent  scholars. 
Upon  removing  t0  a  different  portion  of  the  District,  Mr. 
Mclntvrc  determined  upon  taking  with  him  a  pupil  in 
whose  rare  promise  he  had  become  so  deeply  interested, 
and  effected  an  arrangement  by  which  he  was  gratuitously 

led  in  the  family  of  Ijr.  Pegues,  While  he  imparted  an 
equally  gratuitous  instruct  ion.  A  Bentiment  of  delicacy 
wouy  prompt  the  historian  to  pass  over  these  more  private 

.  if  they  did  not  form  the  links  in  the  chain  of  oppor- 
tunities furnished  by  ■  gracious  Providence*,  and  without 
which  this  3'outh  might  have  shared  1 1 1 « -  Gate  of  those 
less  sons  of  genius  deplored  by  Gray: 

"  Vt  it  the  md  of  empire  might  hav< 

Or  waked  to  ecstacy  the  living  lyre. 

"  But  knowledge  to  their  eyes  her  ample  page, 

with  the  spoils  of  time,  did  ne'er  unroll : 
Chill  penury  N  >"ir  nohle  I 

And  fro/.i-  tlM  i.< -iiial  current  of  the  soul." 

Another  hand  was  now  stretched  forth  to  pluck  from  ob- 
scurity  our  " mute,  inglorious  Milton."  A  physician,  Dr. 
Graves,  whom  pr  I  attendance  at  the  house  of  Mr. 

dly  into  contact  with  the  subject 
of  our  story,  was  to  impressed  with  1 

make  liiin  th<  [uent,  and  of  win.' 

tic,     A 
Samuel  W.  Gillespie  upon  the  youth* 
ml  prodi 
with  the  ;idv.  .  the  future 

'Hiiirv.    This  byperl  five  of  our  di 

w .  y   •  f  tliinkii.  -how  the 

tnd  im] 
trom  eariit  it  youth  upon  all  with  whom  1 
■ 

■ 
at  tli. 


8  I  ■  < 

joint  stum.     Pale  and  sickly  in  appear- 

.   and  ol  lely  diminutive  stature,  his  pen 

med  a  bnrleaqne  of  the  hopes  entertained  on 
his  behalf  and  provoked  many  a  qniel  jesl  at  the  expense 
of  thoee  who  had  ventured  Buch  lofty  predictions  of  hie 
future  eminence.  Bn1  these  forgol  the  apothegm  ofWatts, 
mind  is  the  measure  of  die  man;"  ami  uever  did  a 
frail  body  enshrine  a  spirit  of  nobler  mould,  a  soul  move 
allied  to  die  God  who  gave  it.  His  removal,  in  L825,  t<> 
Cheraw,  conseqienl  upon  these  new  relations,  brought  him 
under  the  immediate  superintendence  of  his  patron.  Mr. 
Bobbins;  with  whom  he  lived,  and  who  undertook  his 
private  instruction,  evincing  from  the  beginning  his  appre- 
ciation of  hlS  ward,  by  lifting  him  at  once  into  the  con- 
fidence and  intimacy  "i  an  equal,  lie  was  soon,  hpwever, 
transferred  from  the  private  preceptoreVp  of  Mr.  Bobbins 
to  the  more  systematic  discipline  of  the  Oheraw  Academy, 
where  he  remained  until  prepared  lor  admission  into  col- 
instructive  to  pause  at  every  stage  in  such  a 
history  and  trace  the  Influences  by  which  a  capacious  intel- 
lect wa-  trained  tor  unparalleled  usefulness  and  honor.  It 
can  ii"t  he  doubted  that  a  familiar  association  of  five  years 
with  an  improved  and  mature  mind,  stimulated  a  most 
rapid  and  vigorous  dcvelopenient  of  mind  and  character. 
'aid  aside  at  so  early  an  aev  the  things  kA   a  child,  and 

assumed  so  early  the  attitude  and  proportions  of  a  man. 
Posse.-HiiLf.  according  to  his  own  testimony,  the  ambition 
to  become  all  that  was  possible — with  a  burning  thirst  for 
knowledge  which  no  acquisitions  could  quench,  he   had 

daily  before  his  Byes,  lO  his  patron  and  friend,  what  seemed 

to  him  the  personification  of  knowledge;  ami  whose  Culler 

stores  poured  forth  ID  hourly  converse  the  aliment  upon 
which  a  growing  mind  would  delight  to  feed.  Under  the 
promptings  of  such  a  nohlc  amhition,  with  a  lofty  ideal 
ever  beckoning  him  forward,  he  laid  in  these  early  yeats 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.   Thornwetli 

the  foundation  <>i'  those  habita  of  intense  application  which 
never  1 1 . ■  - . • : •  i •  ■  < i  him  fcd  if.  ,'  filr:   and  >,  was 

laid   the  ■!'  that   accurate   scholarship   which   only 

needed  the  eulargenvejil  r  years  ami  fuller  oppor- 

tunit'  flde.r  him  the  wonder  he  became  in  th 

scholars  like  himself.     Perhaps  the  most  remarkabh 
lure  ot  this  f  .  the  happy  training  Jby  which  he  was 

disciplined  from  the  opening  ot  I  :•.     Not  only  did 

:dv  while  cfther  hoy-  gambolled  and  Bported;  not  only 
did  he  dig  into  the  intricacies  "\  obsolete  I;  through 

the  long  watches  of  the  night,  wlulst  other  hoy-  slept;  hut 
he  always  studied  the  right  things,  in  the  right  time,  and  in 
the  right  way.  Whether  by  the  instinct  of  his  own  g< 
or. whether  by  the  wise  direction  of  his  superiors,  or  whether 
by  the  mysterious  guidance  of  an  unseen  providence,  which 
men  eall  accident,  or  whether  by  all  these  combined,  he 
read  the  best  books,  and  precisely  at  the  time  to  s< 
their  determining  inl'uenee  upon  himself.  The  light  works 
written  for  amiwment.  and  which  at  most  but  embellish 
I   enrich   the  fancy,  had    no  chi  i  u   to 

his  boyish  mind.     Liki   the   Hercules  of  ancient  story,  lie 
rose  from  hi-  I    tapors;  and  so  became  the 

tell  all  the  truth  would  seem  to  many 
rt  Jiini  in  h.    An  inci 

.  not  (Hi!;.  falla.  within  the  ehroi  t  this 

lhistrati< 

eh  Mr.    I. 
with  Mr.  I.  ry  in  hie  hand-,  he  v 

I  upon  I  ;'  undertaking 

Piou< 

■  of  his  p 
and  i 

th<   II  ima  .  Mind,  also 

- 


10 

with  avidity.  as  a  dream  which  he  once 

had  in  sleep:  that  having  passed  t li r< -u url i  death  into  the 
world  of  spirits,  he  first  found  himself  in  a  spacious  chamber 
•  covered  with  strange  hieroglyphs.     I 

wived  themselves  into  a  perfect  map 
of  his  own  litr.  with  all  its  intersections  and  connexions,  and 

influence  which  had  contributed  to  shape  hia  destiny. 

rcely  needs  a  revelation  from  another  world  to  deter- 
mine the  effect  of  this  incident  in  giving  its  final  direction 
to  a  mind  which  was,  perhaps,  the  only  mind  on  this  con- 
tinent which  could  be  classed  without  peril  with  that  of 
Sir  William  Hamilton.  It  gave  him  a  bias  to  philosophy 
from  which  he  never  swerved,  and  was  the  pivot  upon 

which  the  whole  intellectual  history  of  the  man  afterwards 
turned. 

In  December,  1829,  he  matriculated  in  the  South  <  farolina 
College,  and  from  the  hour  <>f  his  entrance  within  its  classic 

walls,  the  superiority  of  his  genius  was  universally  acknowl- 
edged. Coupling  the  fervor  of  an  American  Btudenl  with 
the  assiduity  of  the  German,  he  devoted  fourteen  hours  a 
day  to  severe  study.     It  does  not,  therefore, -surprise  us  thai 

he  hole  off.  in  ls:51,  the  highest  honors  from  rivals,  some  of 
whom  have  Bmce  achieved  eminence  in  civil  and  political 
life.    Either  he  intuitively  penetrated  the  character  of  the 

age  in  which  he  lived,  and  pierced  the  fallacy  which  sup- 
poses that  genius  can  win  permanent  BUCCesS  without  learn- 
in-',  as  the  material    upon  which,   and    the   instrument  by 

which,  it  must  work;  or  else  he  was  led  blindly  on  by  an 
avaricious  love  of  knowledge,  rendering  the  toil  with  which 

it  is  gathered  itself  a  delight;  hut  certain  it  is,  lie  turned 
away  with  the  severity  of  an  anchorite  from  the  blandish- 
ments of  society:  and  like  an  athlete  of  old,  with  contin- 
uous and  cruel  rigor  trained  every  muscle  and  every  limb 
for  the  Olympic  sace  and  the  Olympic  prize  before  him  in 
During  his  college  career,  be  omitted  no  opportunity 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.   Thormccll.  11 

of  discipline,  neglected  no  part  of  the  prescribed  curricu- 
lum, wasted  no  hour  in  dissipation  qr  indolence;  hut  with 
elaborate  care  prepared  himself  for  every  public  exercise. 
In  the  literary  society  of  which  he  was  a  member,  the  same 
assiduity  availed  itself  of «every  privilege.     Despising  the 
baldness   of  mere  extemporaneous   harangues,  he  armed 
himself  for  the  conflict  of  debate;  and  few  were  -they  who 
could  withstand  his  vigor  of  argument,  or  parry  hi>  tren- 
chant criticism,  when  he  chose  to  indulge  his  power  of  sar- 
casm and  invective.     This  example,  with  its  attendant  and 
grand  results,  stands  op  in  scorching  rebuke  of  the  egotism 
and  folly  which  would  exall  the  triumphs  of  genius  by  dia- 
ling the  discipline  through  which  its  es  are  di- 
i.     As  iron  sharpeneth  iron,  so  the  mind  confess* 
obligation  to  any  influence  by  which  it  has  insensibly 
toned.     I»r.  Thornwell,  in  later  years,  gratefully  acknowl- 
i  the  benefit  he  derived  in  college  from  contact  with 
the  classical  taste  and  attainments  of  Dr.  Ibnry.  tie 
fessor  of  Philosophy  at  the  time;  the  enjoyment  of  whose 
friendship  he  recognized  as  one  of  the  felicities  of  his  col- 
lege COUMe,  and  by  Whom   he  was  both   stimulated  and  di- 
■  I  in  the  acquisition  of  <  ilassk  and  philosophical  lore. 
This  devotion  to  study  does  not,  ho  ar  at  this 
■i    to   h.T.                                                            ve  or  tl  • 

His  religi'  It 

■  ( •  1  o  idolatry,  indeed  :  but    -till,  as  an  idolater,  be 
inly  at  tb  1  the 

:,.•••  ot   1  nbition  . 

Ml     til''  •  B 

biam   but  tl  •  n.  « •iui  ly  but  i 

tion.  .k  1-iH  '  world." 

select  an  instrun  'ring 

■ 
trained  for  his  fut 

y  in- 


12  °f 

solution  from  which  such  a  crystal  must 
shortly  In-  formed;  refl<  wards  did,  from 

oven-  :iii_  flory  of  the  Etedei  mer— the  priBin  through 

whicl  of  divine  truth  were  transmitted",  and 

to  other  minds.  Tl  e  ;. ipse  of  thirty  years 
will  often  sink  into  the  repose  of  death  the  passions  which 

society  to  its  depths  The  opinions  ami  ac- 
tions of  one  generation  are  calmly  reyfewed  by  the  ni  \t. 
and   I  pronounces  hef  impartial  and  irreversihle  v.  r- 

dict  It  is  .-imply  a  matter  of  history  that,  at  the  period  of 
which  we  are  now  treating,  the  eoilege  was  the  seat  «>t*  in- 
fidelity, it-  President,  Dr,  Geo$wr,  in  the  language  of  the 
sje  historian',**  "had  drunk  deep  :.t  tin-  fountain  of  in- 
fidelity; he  had  sympathized  with  tin.-  sneering  Bftvai 
Pari-,  air;  the  fee]  <•("  t ho  mbst  B£eptical  philosophers 

of  Englaud;"  "thestroni  ing  of  his  nature  was  the 

feeling  of  opposition  to  the  christian  religion,  which  he  be- 
i  to  he  a  fraud  and  imposture."     It  w;is  1 1 < » t  wonderful 
that  the  Christian  people  of  the  State  rose  up  to  defend 

"the  altars  whlCO    he  proposed    to    suhvert."  and  to  protect 

their-  gainst  the  influence  of  a  folse  and  soul-destroy- 

ing  philosophy,  a  species  of  Pyrrhonism,  a  refined  ami 
Bubtle  dialectics  which  removed  all  the  foundations  .of  be- 
lief, ami  Spread  over  the  mind  the  dark  and  chilling  cloud 
of  doubt  and  uncertainty.-"  The  issue  was  slowly  mil  stub- 
bornly joined  between  the  religious  faith  of  the  masses,  on 
the  one  hand,  ami  a  cold,  bloodless  deism  on  the  other; 
which  had  throned  itself  upon  the  high  places  of  intelligence 
ami  power,  and  was  poisoning  tin;  wrv  fountains  of  knowl- 
edge in  the  State,     h  was  Bcaroelv  credible  that  Birch  a  con-* 

ili<  t  Bhould  fail  to  arrest  the  attention  of  our  jialc  ami  patient 

student :   whose  dialectic  ability  would  etouse   him.  with 

almost  the  love  of  romantic  adventure,  to  seek  truth  in  the 

wild  clash  of  opposing  opinions.   Wetiud  hfrn*,  accordingly, 

! ^ l.^: —  -. 

*  Dr.  LaU>rd>/.-  History  ul'  the  South  Carolina  Cc&lege,  pp.  175-7. 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.   ThornwHL  1 B 

bending  the  vigor  of  his  intellect  to  to  examination  6t  flie 
claim-  of  deism;  and  rising;  after  ;i  carefnl  perusal  of  its 
ablest  apologists,  with  nn  int<  ooavictioa  of  the  ie- 

v  of  a  <li  vinf  revelatie-h.     II.-  next  turned  to  the  u 
figation   of  Bociaianfem,  towards*  wim-h  h*e  i  -I   an 

early  bia-.  and  'of  wtibae   truth   lie   ardently   dfesfyed   to  be 

eonvinoed.  With  *he  j£irowled£e  we  li.iv  oi  hi-  whole 
chars  .1  in  la'  --■.  it  would  irrcaily  in- 

td  trace  tin-  mental  conflict  phvoktgh  which  he  um.-t, 
new  I  .  ;ui<l  diil  we  not  know  tin-  peewit,  we  i 

tremble  for'  the  decision  which  is  to  1»«-  reader!  d.  On  the 
"ii <■  hand,  it  v  jteoj  peculiarly  uttfacGve  to  aJjiiii 

speculative  as  hi<.     i  criticism   strips  Chris- 

tianity of  all  that  is  supernatural,  and  drags   ita  -ni.  ' 
rajteteriea  before  the  bar  of  hnman   reason*     It  degrades 
"the  signs  and  wonde.rs"   of  the  Bible  int<j  $e  b 
a  fabuiou?  ;•  < -"nvi-rN  them   into  myth  and   all.  _ 

i  of  philosophy,  inasking  itsteachjn^  undet 

I  rise  of  faie-v  ;  or  constrtfes  them  int..  the  jugglery  of 

nature,  beneath  wlm-h  we  are  to  detefej  the  working  only 

Of  h.-r  gecre't  and  invariahle  laws.  Shall  our  Student  be 
dazzled  with  the  boldness  of  \  which 

AV),'  k  ;" 

which  pn  i  subdue  things  divine  und6r  th<  dot 

to  compass  all  truth,  puff   up  the 
soul  with  vanity;  which  u  emindbyiti  s 

of  unbridled  liberty  of  thought!     Or,  on  th< 

shall  hi-  j  the 

v  from   it 
which 

faith  :   and    w 

■ 


14  /.;'< .   ( 'har  I  >       i  of 

ceitful  mirage  upon  the  distant  horizon?  Still  more,  shall 
not  bis  warm  :in<l  loving  heart  find  itself  chilled  in  the 
frozen  atmosph  re  of  a  system  which  offers  nothing  t<>  the 
embrace  <>t  the  affections!  Can  such  a  nature  as  bis  be 
content  to  dwell  in  the  beautiful  Bnow  houses  of  this  polar 
Latitude,  shining,  Indeed,  with  crystalline  Bplendor,  but 
beneath  a -pun  Whi  eli  neither  cheers  nor  warms?  Th< 
oision  trembles  not  long  apon  the  balance:  he  turns  away 
from  Socinianism  with  tin-  indignant  sareasra  of  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph :  "  What  a  Christfess  ( Shristianity  is  this !"  He  would 
not  have  "tire  plav  of  Hamlet  with  the  part  of  Hamlet  left 
out."  Inns  tar,  a  purely  intellectual  examination  liad  con- 
ducted him  to  an  intellectual  recognition  of  the  Scriptures 
as  the  revelation  of  (  fodf,  and  of  ( Ihristianity  as  Uie  scheme 
it  unfolds.  CTpon  the  interpretation  of  this  hook  lie  had 
iVano'd  no  hypothesis,  and  had  formed  no  system  of  doc- 
trinal belie£  He  was  not,  however^  to  rest  li«-iv.  Stum* 
bling,  during  an  evening  stroll,  into  the  bookstore  of  the 
town,  his  eye  rested  apon  a  small  volume,  entitled  "Con- 
:i  of  Faith."  lie  bad  never  before  beard  of  its  exist- 
ence :  be  only  saw  thai  it  contained  an  articulate  statement 
and  exposition  o¥  Christian  doctrine.  He  purchased  and 
read  it  through;  and  for  the  first  time  felt  that  be  had  met 
with  a  system  which  held  together  with  the  strictest  logical 
connexion.  He  could  not  pronounce  it  true  without  a 
careful  comparison  of  the  text  with  the  scriptural  proofs  at 
the  foot  of  each  page.  But  he  was  powerfully  arrested  by 
the  consistency  and  rigor  of  itslogie:  granting  its  funda- 
mental postulates,  all  the  conclusions  must  follow  by  neces- 
Bary-sequence.  This  book  determined  him  as  a  Calvinist 
and  a  Presbyterian;  although  he  had  never  been  i  In-own  into 
any  connexion  with  this  branch  of  the  church  of  Christ, 
and  had  never  been,  except  in  one  instance,  within  aby  of 
their  sanctuaries  of  worship.     The  circumstance,  however, 

Of  most   interest   in    the    whole    Beries,  i^    the    fact  that  the 
chapter  which  most   impressed   him  in  this  "  Confession" 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.   ThornwdL  15 

was  the  chapter  on  Justification — tlmt  doctrine  which  is 
the  key  to  the  whole  Gospel;  as  father  styles  it,  uarttcvlu8 
stantis  dut  cadentu   I  \\>wx  rural  hd  with  the  his- 

tory of  Luther  himself,  and  of  the  great  IJerbrmers  of  the 
sixteenth  century !  who  by  this  clue  extricated  themselves 
from  the  Labyrinth  of  popery,  and  who  built  Protestant 
Christianity  apon  it.  as  the  keystone  of  the  arch  by  which 
llif  whole  superstructure  was  Buppqrted.  Those  who  I 
the  fn  nflict  which  raged  in  the  Presbyterian  church 

at  the  very  time  our  friend  was  introduced  into  its  ministry, 
and  who  remember  the  distinguished  pari  he  waa  called  Bo 

mi  defence  of  the-very  doctrines  of  the  Reformation, 
which  arc  onlv  the  doctrines  of  grace,  can  not  foil  to*r< 
nize  here  the  wonderful  method  by  which  he  wi 

sly  trained  for  a  similar  work  of  reform.    Xom 
fail  to  see  that   those  who  :ire   raised   up  to  be  the  -  ham- 

-  of  truth  in  an  age  of  defection  and 
who  are  destined  to  Bhape  the  theology  of  their  age,  must 
drink  tho  truth  from  no  secondary  streams,  hut   fresh  from 
the  oracles  of  God,  and  from  those  symbolical   books  in 
which   the    faith    of  the   universal    Church    is   Sacredlt 

shrined.   But  iftl  arches  led  him  within  the  temple 

of  Christian  truth,  it  w;is  only  to  wonder,  and  not  to  wor- 
ship. He  stood  beneath  it-  majestic  dome,  and  mu- 
its  cathedral  .  iie  had  wand<  red  through  the 

paused  beneath  the  porch  of  the 
The   Gospel   was   oothing  than   a  sublime 

philosophy :  and  if  il  I  the  hoi 

•  control  tie-  aflectioi  t     It  he 

'! 

it  ww  only  as  a  teacher, 
and  mop-  divine  than  Plal 
How    — d    it 
■ 
Upon  hi-  graduatii  m,  ii 
of  hii 


1'i  /.     .    I 

future  gre&tnees.     In  whatever  gaartef  of  th«  s  he 

should  eham-e  to  rise,  iii n  1  in  w  luiivvcT  -  "i!-tc!1;itinn  to  >hine, 
all  f.\  in   I.im  ;i   -tar  of  the  fir-t  magnit ink-.      I 

,  wIjou,  by  ti  • 
tiohe,  ho    returned   to   the  1"'   as  di^tiiiim.- 

amoqg  it-  teachers  u.-  he  ha<j  S>< ,"1'''  '"'''"  arnaiig  its  pi 
Id  ill.-  -.]., ■  1 1 i r i ir  .it  his  twentieth  year.  , 

V,  the   otliee  of  Ms  patron.  Mr.  Kobbiu-  :   but  did  net 
remain.      Hi.-  .- ] . i r i t  of  manly  independence  could  not 

brook  Logger  to  be  a  pensioner  ijcpou  the  bounty 

had  befriended  him  thu-  far:  he  mu<t.  also,  stretch 

tlic   hand  of  help   to   those   of  his   own    blood   who  de-iivd 
likewise  to  elimb   the   8teep   ;:.-eeiil   of  knowledge.      |1. 
cor«lin-!v  devoted  the  two  -■>-  and  1^J8  to  K 

:d\-i    in   Sunir.-r\  die.  and   then  at  ("heraw.  the  -.■,■]„■  of 
dermic  toils.     During  the  lir-t  of  these  ; 
tbe  ■-'  <  d  of  religious  trutli.  whicli  liad  Imtii  .-eeretiy  swelling 
in  tin'  snul.   btir8t    thron-li   the   parted  vrn.-t.  in  t h<-   tender 
blade.      Jn  the  -] 'rin •_  .  lit;  united,  hy  open  profession 

of  his  faith,  with  the  Com-onl  1  're.-hyterian  ctuircb,  mar 
Sumterville.      Thus   did   the    -  p    spirit   of  (b»d.   who 

chooses  GCje  ,iw!i  avenue  of  approach^  come  to  him  through 

the   eonvieliolis   ot     the    illteileel    ;(]l«l     by    the    lo-'je    o|'    the    llll- 

ilei'.-landine;.  But  He  who  had  previously  BO  illuminated 
the  luind.  now  (juiekeiied  the  affections  and  subdued  the 
will:  and  with  k-  every  tllOUghl  brought  into  captivity  to 
the  obedience  of  Chri<t."  our  friend  bowed,  witli  all  Ins 
powers  united,  before  the  .'lw--.  Thwarting  the  in- 
hi-  own  anibition  and  the  fond  hope-  ><l'  political  prefer- 
lnein  cherished  by  his  admirer.-,  he  forthwith  re-olved  upon 
devoting  him.-eif  to  the  •■  ministry  of  i  eeomdiatiom'*  This 
resolution   wa-   formed  and   kept    under  the  pressure  ^\'  a 

tremendous  ( \  i.tion.     Three  years  later,  at  the  period  qi 

hie  licensure,  whether  through  a  coriscientjdQfl  apprehension 
of  the  saeredness  pf  the  « » H i « - < • .  or  whether  through  an 
earthly   ambition    not    wholly  subdued,    he    cherished  the 


Tlu  laU    /-,',  r.   hr.   Thornwell.  17 

secret  hope   of   being  rejected   l>y  tl  bytery,  upon 

whom  would  devolve  th<  osibility  pf  releasing  him 

from  the  pressure  of  th  Ji   is  a   fearful 

struggle  when,  one-'  for  all,  a  noble  spirit  brings  its  Longing 
after  feme  and  laya  if  down  a  perpetual  sacrifice  to  con- 
science and  to  Qod.  For  though  the  pulpit  lias  ita  honors 
and  rewards,  woe!  woe!  to  the  man  w]  I   mder  this 

temptation — 

urrlly.  no) 

The  shadow,*  rful  curse  falls  upon  him  who  "does 

this  work  of  the  Lord  deceitfully,*'  win.  can  not  with  a 
purged  eye  look  beyond  the  meed  of  human  appla 

iiction  of  the  great  Master  as  his  final  crown.     During 
these  two  years  of  retired  and  .-<-li< >la-t  ]<■  improvi 
prosecuted  with  diligence  tin-  study  of  divinity:  and   in 
1  to  the  CJnivere  i         iridge,  where,  tin 

il  months,  he  perfected  his  knowledge  ol  In 

autumn  of  the  same  year,  he  was  licensed  as  a  ] 
tioner  by  the  Presbytery  of  Harmony,  and  soon  alter  com- 
menced his  ministerial  labors  in  the  Districl  of  Lano 
In  tip  ordained  by  the  Presbytery 

of  Bethel  to  th<-  full  I    iristian  ministry, 

haw, 
Six  Mile  Creek,  and  i  wing  De- 

matrimonial  alliance  with  a 
lonel  Ja 
of  which  were  only  d 

■ 
i 

brilliai  !'  the 

•  tul  iiiii  - 

by  tl  Indeed,  in    the 


18  !.'■'  .    I  > 

opinioD  o  .  for  popular  effect  those  early  discourses 

were  nev<  ded  by  the  riper  prodnctiona  of  his  later 

Though  his  learning  became  more  various,  and  his 

discut  ore  profound,  yet  the  first  impr<  >f  his 

ended.  1  'erhape,  however,  this  is 
due  toe  Beverer  taste  and  a  deeper  christian  experi< 
which  learned  to  disregard  those  mere  graces  of  rhetoric 
by  which  a  popular  assembly  is  so  often  dazzled.  We  shall 
have  occasion  hereafter  to  describe  him  more  fully  as  a 
preacher;  and  will  discover  that  his  eloquence  dug  for  itself 
a  deeper  channel  than  in  his  earlier  years,  and  poured  itself 
in  a  much  broader  flood,  rather  overwhelming  by  it<  majesty 
than  simply  charming  by  its  grace. 

We  now  follow  him  to  a  different  sphere.  The  chair  of 
Logic  and  Criticism  in  the  South  Carolina  College  being 
made  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  lamented  Nbtt,  the  remem- 
brance of  his  brilliant  scholastic  career,  and  the  splendid 
fame  lie  had  acquired  through  the  northern  portion  o(  the 
Stale,  brought  him  before  the  electors  as  the  man  for  the 
place.  Be  waa  accordingly  chosen  to  the  vacant  chair  in 
tnber,  1s;m.  which  he  soon  occupied,  the  department 
being  shortly  after  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  Metaphysics. 
If-  entered  with  characteristic  seal  upon  the  office  of  in* 

attraction,  in  studies  so  peculiarly  adapted   tO  his  acute   and 

analytical  mind.  Metaphysical  science  he  speedily  vin- 
dicated from  the  charge  of  inutility,  showing  the  applica- 
tion of  its  principles  to  the  practical  business  of  life,  and 
as  Implicitly  involved  in  the  whole  current  <>f  human  inter- 
course. His  lucid  exposition  dispelled  the  haze  of  uncer- 
tainty and  doubt  hanging  around  themes  bo  abstract  and 
difficult  of  research.  The  warmth  of  his  enthusiasm  quick- 
ened into  life  and  clothed  with  flesh  the  marrowlesa  bones 
of  what  was  regarded  only  ai  a  dead  philosophy.  The  re- 
animated form,  Instinct  with  the  beauty  which  his  -lowing 
rancy  diffused,  invested  with  the  drapery  which  his  varied 
learning  supplied,  and  speaking  in  the  magnificent  dictiou 


77tc  laic  Ma:  Dr.   ST%or7jwe#.  10 

which  lii.s  matchless  eloquence  inspired,  no  Longer  repelled 
the  embrace  of  ardent  scholars,  as  when  she  lay  a  ghastly 
skeleton,  covered  with  the  dust  of  centuries  of  barren  9] 
lation.  During  his  loug  connexion  with  the  college  she 
sat  enthroned  among  the  sciences,  and  tar  be  the  day  when 
she  shall  be  deposed  from  this  queenly  ascendency !  But 
nial  as  were  these  pursuits  to  the  young  professor, 
ran  to  be  disturbed  with  scruples  which 
robbed  hie  repose.     We  have  ah-  n  with  what  un- 

usual  solemnity  and  depth  of  conviction  he  assumed  the 
office  of  the   holy    ministry.     His  ordination    vow   presses 
hard  upon  him.     lie  had  covenanted  to  make  the  procla- 
mation oi  grace  to  sinners  the   business  of  his  life. 
Did  this  comport  with  a  life  spent  in  teaching  others  only 
the  endless  see-saw  of  the  syllogism,  or  even  the  subline)- 
ries  of  the  human  mind?    The  opportunities  afforded 
lor  the  occasional  ministration  of  the  Word,  how  frequent 
so  ever,  did  not  seem  to  till  up  the  measure  of  obligation 
he  had   contracted  by  "the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the 
\i'Tv.       lie  must  preach,  with  constancy  and  sys- 
tem, as  a  man  plying  his  vocation  :  "the  word  of  the  Lord 
in  his  heart,  a-  a  burning  lire  shut  up  in  his  bones,  and 
hew.                    with    forbearing."     Under   this  pressure  of 
cons' '  Eered  his  bion  to  the  Board  of 
Trustees  in  May,  1889,  with  a  view  to  accept  the  past 
of  the   Presbyterian   church  in  Columbia,   South    Carolina. 
The  transfer  WW                I  at  the  close  of  the  year,  and  on 
January  1.  L840,  he  was  installed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Charleston  in  this  new  relation.     U  er,  to 
too  invaluable  to  iipi 
usage.    An  opportunity 
ail.  Thl                                                              as  Bishop 
ocese  of  Ge<                                            dj.it   without 

him, 

.  with   th-  ature 

and  the  Evidences  of  I  scru- 


which  h:t<l  withdrawn    him  from   the  «h:iir  of  Phi 

smbarrass  hla  acceptance  of  a  imu   position, 
where  he  would  be  intrusted  with  tl 

of  a  iii'  *  ~  t  important  •  of  th<- 

1841,  he  entered  upon  hie  in  the  college  amidst 

mentation  and  tears  of  hie  ed  charge,  who  during 

bad  drunk  ;  el  at  his  lips  aa  never  be 

In  thia  renewed  connexion  he  remained  through  I 
with  almost  utibroken  r  ccept  ilmt   In  the  ii 

ra  ii-'  was  seriously  threatened  with  a  pulmonary 
affection,  Lw\hich  interrupted  his  labors,  and  necessitated  a 
visit  of  several  months  to  Europe.  During  this  time,  he  not 
only  reestablished  his  health,  but  came  into  acquaintance 
with  many  of  the  leading  minds  in  England  and  Scotland  ; 
which,  leading  to  a  call  for  hia  published  writings  as  fast 
afterward  appea  ;,-<'d  him  a  reputation  in 

Europe  as  envialb  ■  wide,  as  that  he  enj 

in  America;  Upon  his  return,  hia  studies'  were  resumed 
with  redoubled  •  ndered  all  the  more  valuable  to 

himself  from  the  y  of  daily  imparting  his  knowl- 

edge to  others:  for  true  u  is,  in  the  language  of  the  noet, 

■  man  is  the  lord  of  any  thing, 
Though  in  ami  of  him  there  be  much  consisting, 
Till  he  communicate  his  parts  t<>  others — 
N.ir  doth  in-  of  himself  k 1 1 > > w  tin-in  for  aught, 
Till  be  behold  them  formed  in  the  applause 
Where  they're  extended  ;  which,  lik<-  an  arch,  reverberates 
The  voice  again ;  or,  like  teel, 

Fronting  the  Biin,  r<  I  renders  bach 

iii»  figure  mill  hi-  beat." 

The  chair  which  he  now  held  combined  in  its  embrace  the 
mysteries  both  of  philosophy  and  revelation.  Studies  so 
lofty,  and  yt't  bo  comprehensive,  pursued  through  ten  years 

miller  tin-  stimulus  and  in  the  daily  reflection  Of  his  own 
teaching,  deepened  incredibly  the  bed  of  hia  mind,  and  laid 
up  in  its  chambers  -tores  of  knowledge  which  made  him 
rich  for  eternity.    The  prestige  of  his  gcuius  and  hia  facility 


Tht    l&l<    Rev.   Dr.   Thornwell.  21 

position  rendered  him  the  idol  of  his  pupils :  the  tacl 
he  displayed  in  discipline,  and  the  practical  wisdom  of  all 
as  on  the  subjecl  of  education,  won  more  and 
more  the  admiration  and  confidence  of  the  State;  while  the 
sanctification  of  all  his  p6wera  bo  the  glory  of  the  !.'• 
deemer  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  knit  to   liim   the  i 

of  the  Chut  d.     The  results  of  Ins  long  min- 

chapel  will  be  known  only  at  the 
judgment.  Many  received  here  their  first  saving  impres- 
sions of  divine  truth,  which,  in  aft  ,  and  under  other 
ministrations,  ripened  in  a  sound  conv<  and  not  a 

to  his  fidelity  were  more  Lmmedial 
into  his  crown.     In   that   day  of  revelation,  when  all  the 
-  of  time  shall  be  gathered  into  a  Bingle  view,  he  will 
be  greeted  as  h  spiritual  father  by  many  sons  whom  h< 
begotten  in  the  Gospel.     Nor,  in  framing  ai 
the  la  this  period,  should  we  overlook  the  influence 

of  his  scientific  and  elaborate  defences  of  the  christian 
(kith,  uttered  in  the  class-room;  by  which  many  w< 
from  the  delusions  of  infidelity,  and 

i  ative  belief  in  the  word  of  God.     I.  here 

and  adore  the  mya  that  providence  which  worketh 

not  after  the  human  ition.     W  ho,  that 

ten  y 

infidelity,  and  sending  ■  . 
all  the  land,  dreamed  that  th< 

unpion  for  the  truth,  ould  T.ik«-  op 

ff  the  pi  iumphai 

Who.   • 

at  th'  I  drinkii 

his  counsels  th< 

own  I    Wno  could  tl 

:m   infidel   ]>h 
shoufd  QUI 


by  which  its  own  life  should  be  pierced:  that  itself 

should  tn  •       _       by  \\  hich  its  own  i . 

.should  be  demolished,  ami  the  BpeU  of  ita  own  fool  en- 
chantment be  dissolved  !  All.  it  La  the  young  Saxon  monk, 
climbing  Pilate's  stair-case  upon  his  knees,  who  now  shakes 
the g  papal  Rome!    It  is  the  young  man  bearing 

of  the  first  martyr  and  consenting  to  his 

.  who  now  fills  the  world  with  the  faith  he  destroyed ! 
In  May.  L851,  he  was  released  from  the  college,  and, re- 
moved to  the  city  of  Charleston,  on  the  acceptance  of  a  call 
from  the  Glebe  Street  church.  l>ut  before  these  am 
ments  were  consummated,  In' was  unexpectedly  remanded 
to  his  old  relations.  The  resignation  of  the  presidency  of 
bhe  college  by  the"  Son.  William  C.   Preston  turned  the 

if  the  whole  Mate  to  the  only  man  who  was  deemed 
worthy  to  be  his  successor:  ami  now.  the  third  time,  the 
State  became  a  Buitor  for  his  services;  and  a  third  time,  by 
the  unanimous  voice  of  her  whole  constituency,  he  was 
horn  i  •  into  the  academic  halls  with  which  his  whole  Life  had 
be<  n  bo  Btrangely  identified.  It  was  no  small  tribute  paid 
to  hi>  merit,  thai  be.  should  be  summoned  to  fill  a  Btation 
which,  from  the  foundation  of  the  college,  had  been  graced 
by  the  mosl  illustrious  names.  The  unanimity  of  the  sum- 
mons was  hut  a  mark  of  appreciation  wh'nh  his  great  genius 
might  justly  claim  as  its  due  Fpr  the  office  itself  he  had 
a  surpassing  fitness.  Sis  long  experience  in  the  govern- 
ment of  young  men  ;  the  exquisite  Lad  he  had  bo  frequently 
displayed  in  times  of  emergency;  the  freshness  off  his  sym- 
pathies, which  hound  him  to  them  by  cords  whose  tender- 
ness was  only  equal  to  their  strength  ;  the  complete  ascen- 
dency k<-  had  acquired  over  them,  not  less  by  the  force  of 

his   character   than    hy   the   brilliancy   of  his   intellect;   the 

confidence  in  his  integrity   inspired   by  the  transparent 

honesty  of  his  heart;  the  affectionate  rr\<  r<  nrr  in  which 
be  was  held  by  his  colleagues  in  the  faculty;  and  the  cordial 
support  he  mighl  i '\;>uct  to  receive  from  a  confiding  public, 


The  fate  tim  I>r.  ThornwW. 

who  trusted  him  With  an  unbounded  faith  :  all  gave  the 
ige  of  a  most  successful  administration.  In  January, 
.  he  pat  <m  the  mantle  once  worn  by  a  Maxey,  a  Bum- 
well,  ami  a  Preston;  by  a  redistribution  of  the  chairs,  re- 
suming his  position  as  Chaplain  and  as  Profi  isor  of  the 
Evidences  and  of  Moral  Philosophy.  We  do  not  ear*  to 
interrupt  the  continuity  ol  his  personal  history  with  di 
tations  upon  the  of  his  character  which 

•  ml  relation!  reveal  to  as.  Reserving  these  to 
another  place,  let  us  trace  die  thread  of  Ms  life  until  it  is 
■  b  al  ill*-  grave.  Prom  the  Lints  already  given,  the 
presidency  of  Dr.  Thorawell  would  not  probably  be  marked 
by  much  that  is  external.  The  college  would  1"' 
rather  to  move  forward  upon  its  wheels  thro  daily 

routine,  without  those  jars  and  discords  which,  like  revolo- 

in  the  State,  denote  something  oul  of  joint,  thn 
the  unskilfulness  of  rulers.  The  same  clear  expositioi 
divine  truth,  and  the  same  passionate  appeals  to  th< 

heard,  n-  ben1  >re,  i  very  Sabbath,  in  the  chapel : 
the  same  powerful  vindication  of  die  Christian  faith,  and 
the  same  luminous  tracing  of  analogies  betv  nat- 

ural and  tli"  moral  government  of  Gted,  v  □  the 

ore.     But  what  large  plans  that  fertile 
brain  was  maturii  aw  up  I  f  the 

land  to  a  higher  summit  level;  what  modifici  rf  the 

curriculum  of  study  to  secure  greater  mental  d  .  and 

arge  the  cultui 
-all  this,  which  might  have  wrougl  I  at  in  the 

history  of  the  institution  which  he  lov<  d. 

which  plucked  him  from  his  seat,  and  ■  ■ 

ion  with  the  enl'. 

Tn  the  tenith  of  bis  fame,  ii 
with  nd  judg 

■ 
which  turned  the  • 

red  with  aca<  with  t;  ■ 


_4 

reward,  a  richer  meed  of  praise,  to  be  lavished  upon  this 

on  of  learning?    There  remains  bu1  one,  and  that 

must  conie  from  the  Church  of  God.     A-  intimated  by  her 

d,  "tin-  Kingdom  oi  I  m<  tb  not  with 

and  her  rewards  may  Beem  paltry  to  the  eye 

tee,  when  hang  in  oontraejl  with  the  splendid  prizes  of 
earthlj  distinction.  Yet  the  caU  apon  this  man  by  th  Re- 
deemer's Church,. to  turn  from  these  academic  titles  and 
train  her  sons  fofr  the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  was  the 
crowning  glory  of  a  life  bright  with  applause  i'rom  its  be- 
ginning,  Through  eighteen  years  the  Ohurch,  holding  in 
her  hands  his  pledge  of  allegiance,  bad  lent  him  to  the  State; 
through  eighteen  years  he  had  devoted  himself  to  it-  most 
vital  interest,  with  an  assiduity  of  which  only  an  earnest  bou! 

capable,  Now,  in  the  noon  of  bis  life,  in  the  ripem 
bis  intellect,  and  in  the  richness  of  Ids  learning,  the  Church 
saw  lit  to  reclaim  him  to  herself;  Bhe  would  pass  those  rare 
gifts  under  the  baptism  of  a  renewed  consecration  to  her 
service,  It  was  thought  by  some  ;l  waste  to  fritter  the 
of  sueh  a  mind  in  the  mere  police  requisite  for 

vernment  of  undergraduates,  <>r  in  the  details  pf  an 

tive  office,  however  honorable,  [t  was  feared  by 
others  that  his  frail  constitution  would  succumb  beneath 

oxiety  and  care  continually  exacting  upon  a  frame 
already  taxed  to  its  ui most  endurance  by  the  habits  of  a 
Mud.  nt.    It  was  fell  by  all  that  if  the  Church  of  thi-  •.•••u- 

■  I  inii-t  swell  i he  wisdom  of  the  past  by  a  contribution 
of  its  own.  this  was  the  representative  of  her  choice,  whose 
immortal  writings  should  teach  to  children's  children  the 

and  faith  of  their  fathers.  Dr.  Thorn  well  had  evinced 
singular  aptitude  in  repelling  the  false  philosophy  of  the 
day  in  its  oofvert  assaults  upon  the  word  of  Qod*  Holding 
in  liis  grasp  I  he  entire  history  of  philosophy,  from  the  times, 

of   PiatO    and    AMstOtle    to  those   of  Ficfcte    and    ol    Kant; 
possessing  a  lo^ie   that   could    detect   and   tear  oH' the  dis- 


The  late  Ber.  Dr.    Thmnwdk  25 

guises  of  error ;  and  withal,  imbufid  with  profound 
erence   for  the  dogmatic  authority  of  Scripture:   such  a 
man  could,  of  all  others,  unmask  the  hypocritical  ration- 
alism which   seek-  by  craft  to  unden  r  faith  in  an 
objective  revelation,  and  bon  >ws  the  very  dialect  ofthe 

el  to  ir.", .  it  vital  trutl 

a  man.  i  nly  tone  the  rising  min- 

istry ofth<  Church,  and  fashion  them  in  part  upoi 

id  ;  but  would  reproduce  the  fixed  thei 
of  the  past  in  its  new  relation 

ntain  which  leane   it  d  head  against  the  skyj 

\    ne  for  i  diflereu  through  the 

shifting  atmosphere  which  surrounds  it:  so  tl 
the  Bil.le.  eternal  aa  the  being  ami  governm< 
affect"(l  by  the  shifting  hues  of  the  philosophic  medium 
through  which  it  is  <^aw  and  interpreted.    It  was  the  high- 
est mark  of  the  Church's  favor  to  Dr.  Thornwell,  that  he 
n   for  *  task  :  and  that  he  i 

are  for  its  accomplishment,  the  Church  with 
him  from  the  garish  eplendor  ol  the  world  within  hei 
tranquil  shades,  and  hoped  and  prayi 

tiil  the  work  v  Three  things  the 

Chun  at  hi-  b  would  I 

yield  him  ward  on  high  :   • 

oin  his  own  poL  xhibitin 

■ 
unity 

.  and  a  b  in  whit 

lation   .  of   human   oblig 

'i  n    all    tl, 

abundantly  ti 

lined   hut   to  dn 

r  the 

Only  a  part  o  to  be 

•1 


1  i  nius  of 

'..<■  dowa  into  the  silence  of  his  tomb, 

from  which  coup  ■  •  our  wall  of  sorrow. 

[n  Deo  he  pronounced  his  fourth  and   last 

I,  obedient  to  the  call  of  the  two  Byn< 

.a  ;iii<l  Georgia,  turned  bia  back  upon  the  halls 

in  which  he  had  ao  long  taughl  the  sons  of  the  State,  and  on* 

ol  of  the  prophets,  hard  by,  to  train  the 
of  the  Church  for  their  mission  of  love  to  a  dying  world. 
Dr.  Thornwell,  with  all  his  various  learning,  eminently 
illustrated  the  adage,  "Beware  of  the  man  of  one  book." 
In  his  own  search  after  truth,  whibt  he  read  in  a  <rood  de- 
gree discursively,  he  studied  a  few  trreat  masters.  Plato 
and  Aristotle  among  the  ancients — Milton.  Locke,  and  Be> 
eon  among  the  moderns,  he  read  and  re-read  ;  until  he  cot 
only  digested  their  contents,  but  was  saturated  with 
spirit,  and  stood  prepared  to  grapple  independently  with 
th<-  highest  problems  of  human  existence.  The  same  policy 
marked  his  course  as  a  teacher.  The  text-hook  by  which 
Bcipliued  his  college  pupils  into  habits  of  Bevere  thinks 
niLr.  was  the  celebrated  Analogy  of  Bishop  Butler,  which, 
nndiafigured  by  the  pedantry  of  foot-notes,  shows  in  the 
text  itself  a  perfect  mastery  of  the  entire  literature  of  the 
suhjeet.  lint  whatever  text-book  was  chosen  by  Dr.  Thorn- 
well,  it  served  only  as  a  thread  upon  which  to  Btring  the 
pearls  of  knowledge  he  had  himself  collected.  A  college 
student  once  remarked  to  the  speaker:  "Dr.  Thornwell  is 
the  only  teacher  for  whose  recitation  l  can  never  Bay  1 
am  fully  prepared  ;  1  Btudy  Butler  until  I  can  repeal  every 
word,  and  fancy  that  I  can  answer  every  possible  question, 
and  in  three  minutes  [  stand  before  him  a  perfect  fool,  and 
feel  that  I  know  nothing  at  all.  lie  has,  sir,  the  happiest 
knack  of  drawing  0U1  of  Butler  what  was  never  there.  ex« 
cept  as  he  put  it  in."  The  teacher  knew — the  pupil  did 
not — how  deep  those  simple  and  BUggestive  sentences  of 
the  author  actually  drew :  only  an  equal  mind  could  take 
the  soundings  of  such  a  work.     The  selection  of  a  text- 


The  late  Bev.  Dr.    Thorn  mil.  27 

t 
book  in  theology  Was  typical  of  the  mail  ;   it  WM  tin-   Insti- 
tutes of  John  Calvin.     Wonderful   association  of  nam< 
drawn  together  by  an  electric  i  fflnity  bo  close  that,  with 
the  men  transposed,  the  Calvin  three  centuries  back  might 
have  been  the"  Thornwell  of  to-day,  and  our  Thornwell 
nnLrlit  equally  have  been  the  Calvin  of  1 1  j * ■  Reformation. 
The  same  profoundness  of  learning,  evincing  itself  rather 
in  the  results  it  achieves  than  in  the  idle  display  "i'  tin'  ap- 
paratus with   which   it   works:  the  same  logical  aenmen, 
which  reeolved  the  nK-st  intricate  problems  and  laid  bt 
the  rinciples  wrapped  within  their  fold-  me 

intellect,  which  imbedded  these  in  pr<  gnant  utter* 
ances  capable  of  endless  exposition;  the  same  candor  in 
the   investigation  of  truth,  and  the  same  passionate  1 
which  mad.'  them  worshippers  at  her  shrine ;  the  same  B 
cub/an  industry,  which  sported  with  labor  and  found  refresh* 

nt  in  toils  by  Which  others  were' exhausted  ;  the  same 
practical  judgment,  whose  counsels  were  almost  akin  to 
prophecy,  and  seldom  led  astray  those  who  asked  advice; 
the  san.  tility  of  genius,  which  mad'- the  eccf 

an  able  counsellor  <      -         j  the  same  simplicity  of  char* 
acter,  which  pr<  ness  of  childhood  in  the  ma- 

tur,  •  he  -.'on.  -on],  which  shrank 

ther  from  reproach  nor  peril  in  tl  b1  :  tlip 

sincerity,  which    never  un< 
rked  by  indirection:  a]  rau 

the  paralh  'ding  tl. 

oentnriei  a]. art.  I  i  m  to  b 

blanoe  is  pi  d  in  thii  dental. 

■rly  maturity  of  mind,  which  eoabll 

at  t  "he 

Kr.m  h    king,  and  which  pli 

in    *  >phy \  the  fa 

frail  body,  which  scarcely  contained  the  indwelling 

lea  with  t«j  own 

activity,  and  threa  down  the  wall* 


28 

of  it-  finally,  the  coil  in   their 

one  in  bia  fifty-fifth, 
the  other  in*]  b  year,  i  while 

high  dood  with  both;  these  are  poiuta  ofree 
bich,  tho  ital,  we  cannol  bul  paose  to 

admii  is  it  strange  thai  the  theologian  of  the  nine- 

b  century,  sh  a  »  back  to  the  theologian  of  the  six? 

i  find  a  master  for  his  pupi  i  had  dug 

the  truth  for  himself  from  the  quarry  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
the  Bymbols  of  the  Church,  would  naturally  carry  his 
pupils  up  the  stream  of  theological  tradition  to  the  very 
spot  where  it  broke  out  afresh  from  the  earth.  Like  the 
fabled  river  of  Al'rh  malic  theology  had  for 

buried  it.-  channel  beneath  the  superstitions  and  era 
popery:  and,  as  from  >the  foot  of  a  great  mountain,  it  em<    _ 
anew  at  the  period  of  the  Reformation.     Precisely  here  the 
water.-  would  be  found  the  purest,  except  as  he  might  carry 
his  pupils  ii'.  L,  to  the  original  fountain,  and  causa 

them  to  drink  from  the  oracles  oi  God.  But  when  it  be- 
came necessary  to  employ  human  aid  in  constructing  an 
articulate  system  of  doctrine,  be  found  do  master  equal  to 
greai  theologian  of  the  Reformation.  John  Calvin 
stand.-  in  the  same  relation  to  Protestant  theology  as  Francis 
i  to  modern  philosophy;  each  beinga  constructor  in 

Own   sphere,   and   each   putting  the   stamp  of  his  own 

thought  apon  the  science  of  after  times.  Nay,  if  it  be  nol 
irreverenl  thus  to  couple  inspired  with  uninspired  name-, 
John  Calvin  stands  in  the  college  of  the  Reformers  e 
what  as  Paul  in  the  college  of  the  Apostles,  the  penman 
and  logician  of  his  day.  After  the  lapse  of  three  centuries, 
lie  finds  an  expositor  worthy  of  himself —  he  Plato  alter  Soc- 
Bappj  master,  to  find  such  a  commentator !  Sap* 
py  expositor,  to  find  Buch  a  master!  Sappy  pupils,  to  sit 
under  tin'  combined  light  of  two  such  kindred  int 

Drs  Thornwell's  method  of  instruction  was  the  Socratic 
xarnined  his  elass  upon  the  text  of  the  author,  so 


The  la/,    H,r.   Dr.    PtornwelL  29 

shaping  hia  ii  J  to  evolve  the  truth  from  the 

mind  of  the  student  itself,     i.  m  by  rote  was  an  im- 

possibility; the  repetition  of  the  text  did  not  answer  the 
requisitions  of  the  olass-room.     [nterrogation  was  poured 
upon  the  pupil's  head  like  a  shower  of  bail,  until  hi 
driven  back  through  all  the  rigorous 

analysis ;  then  he  must  Iran;''  pre  menta  of  the  doe- 

trine,  while  a  critical  .  by  to  i  at  and  pare  until  it 

re  the  eye  with  the  utmost  sharpni 
profile,      I  .  the  student   was  put    upon   hia 

against  every  form  o  I   to  which  the  champion  tor 

the  truth  might  he  exposed.     It  the  Li  -  un- 

skilful, the  pupil  found  himself  in  the  toils  of  an  . 
who  wound  tightly  about  him  tin'  meshes  in  which  h< 
involved.     No<  till  then  came  the  hour  of  extrication. 
at  last  there  would  follow  lucid  exposition,  searching  anal- 
ysis, and  Baling  the  web  and  probing 
every  difficulty  to  its  core.     Th<  "'in  was  tin; 
like  the  studio  of  the  statuary,  who   chip-  away  upon  the 
senseless  block  until  he   "moulds  every  joint  and  member 
into  an  immortal  feature  of  loveliness  ami  pel 
it  was  the  gymnasium,  where  the  living  mind  was  taught 
to  unfold  itself  according  to  its  own  law  of  developem 
and  work               tut  into  the  con 
which                          it>  own  texture,     I 
who  commas                                 new  and  grand  thought  :  but 
he  is  twice  a  I 

;".     ('ii';  double  weijj  ide  ]  »r.  Tl 

well  i  Ilia  pupils  :   no  v. 

a  ohil  .  well 

n  mourning  '     I  taring  I 
this  L" 

will  1 
kiudliDg  of  b 


30  and  6 

B  -'  lea   his   la!  a   theological  pi  .  lie  dis- 

charged on  *  more  the  dirties  of  a  pastor  in  tbe  Colombia 
clmivli:  over  which  he  ws  ind  time  installed,  in  con- 

junction villi  a  younger  brother,  one  of  bis  own  pupils, 
upon  whom  the  sole  pastorship  was  finally  devolved.     Dn 
ring  the  past  two  yean,  his  constitution,  naturally  frail, 
manifested  symptoms  of  sure  but  gradual  decay.     B< 
application  to  study  such  as  his,  protracted  through  so  many 
years,  must  tell  upon  the  physical  frame,  to  soon  as  its  raw 
cuperative  energies  begin  to  be  impaired.     His  nervous 
system  commenced  now  giving  way.  and  he  experienced 
that  prostration  of  strength   more  distressing  than   i 
acute  Buffering.     Coupled  with  this,  the  fears  of  pulmonary 
disease,  which  had  been  excited  in  his  earlier  life,  were  now 
renewed.     Ju  consequence  of  this  two-fold  m,  he 

made,  in  I860,  a  second  trip  across  the  Atlantic,  and  re- 
turned improved,  hut  not,  as  before,  renovated.  Unques- 
tionably, too,  the  intense  excitement  of  the  present  war 
wore  Qpon  his  shattered  and  nervous  body,  beyond  its  power 
either  to  su-tain  or  resist  The  love  of  country  burned 
always  in  his  breast  at  a  white  beat.  In  former  years  none 
gloried  more  than  he  in  the  spreading  power  of  the  old  Re- 
public, and  his  sanguine  hope  painted  her  future  splendor 
in  colors  absolutely  gorgeous.  The  speaker  well  remem- 
bers, three,  years  ago,  the  spontaneous  burst  of  applause  in 
the  General  Assembly,  so  unusual  in  an  er.-lesiastical  coun- 
cil, produced  by  one  of  his  sudden  outbreaks  of  patriotic 
He  was  describing  his  emotions  while  surveying  iu 
the  Tower  of  London  the  various  trophies  of  British  prow- 
ess; and  how  he  drew  himself  Up  to  his  highest  Mature,  and 
proudly  said  to  his  attendants,  **  YoUT  country  bafl  Waged 
two  l"ii'4  wars  against  mine,  but  I  see  here  no  trophies  of 
luocessful  valor  wrested  from  American  hands."  But  those 
were  days  when  America  had  not  learned  to  bow  the  supple 
knee  before  a  vulgar  despotism  of  her  own  creation ;  the 
slime  of  the  serpent's  trail  had  not  then  been  seen  winding 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.   Thornwell.  31 

around  the  steep  ascent  to  the  presidential  chain  From 
the  moment  a  Motional  party  obtained  the  supreme  control, 
his  clear  judgment  saw  at  a  glance  the  momentous  issue  that 
must  be  joined.  II  -  heart  turned  at  once  t<»  his  beloved 
South,  as  all  the  country  that  was  kit  to  him,  in  whose  en- 
tire independence  rested  the  last  hope  of  republican 
dom.  Jlis  patriotism  hurst  forth  into  a  consuming  passion, 
and  his  cultivated  moral  sense  looked  upon  his  country's 
wrongs  with  a  ment  which  was  holy.     From  the  pul- 

pit and  the  platform  he  poured  forth  his  fiery  i  e,  in 

words  scarcely  h  ve  than  those  hurled  b 

thenes  against  the  Macedonian  Philip.     In  eke 
he  unfolded,  with  a  statesman's  power,  the  mighty  prin- 
ciples of  religious  and  political  liberty  which  were  impli- 
cated in  the  struggle;  and  through  the  newspaper 
prophetic  words  were  borne  upon  the  wind,  like  the  l< 
of   the   Sybil,   through   the  whole   Confederacy.      These 
writings  will  be  gathered  into  the  portfolio  of  the  states- 
man, as  among  the  ablest  documents  of  the  time.     They 
reveal  the  order  of  statesmanship  he  would  have  attained, 
if  he  had  chosen  to  walk  in  the  paths  of  political  pn 
ment;  and  those  who  may  have  regretted  his  turning  aside 
from  these,  may  take  in  the  thoughl  t;  thus, 

when  life  was  flickering  in  its  &  fulfilled 

man's  task,  and  left  behind  him  I 
this  moment  South  Carolina  weeps  at  bi- 
as she  learned  to  shed  around  the  bier 
Calhoun. 

As  usual,  Dr.  Thornwell  spent  hi-  last  vacation  ii 
vain  effort  to  recruit  his  health, 

Wilson's  springs,  in  North  Carol,' 

benefit  from  their  wat  '      ' 

the  tl  pnia.     1 1 

v.  returned  upon  him  with  redou": 


32  of 

after  a  short  conflict  with  the  powers  of  nature,  overthrew 
tini.  and  bore  him  to  the  tomb.     Through  this  last 
Bickness  he  was  not  permitted  to- speak much.     A]    ■•  Prom 
irve,  which  shrunk  Prom  every  tiling 
approaching  .  the  nature  of  his  malady  was  Buch  as 

to  becloud  his  mind.     JI«-  lay,  for  the  most  part,  in  stupor; 

.  aroused^  indeed,  bo  Hie  recognition  of  those  about 
his  bed,  bat  speedily  sinking  hack  into  lethargy.  His 
troubled  and  incoherent  utterances  revealed  the  habit  oi 
his  lite:  lifting  his  Anger,  as  if 'addressing  an  imaginary 

.  he  would  say.  *-  Well,  you  have  Btated  your  position, 
now  prove  it  ;  "  ami  then,  as  if  musing  upon  the  qualities 
of  the  human  mi  ml.  he  would  articulate:  "The  attribul 
first,  the  moral,  then  tin-  intellectual,  and  thirdly,  the 
pious  or  spiritual : ''  reminding  us  of  the  good  Neander,  who, 
in  like  manner,  would  lift  himself  from  his  dying  couch 
and  say.  MTo-morr©w,  young  gentlemen^  we  will  resume 
our  exercitations  upon  tin-  sixth  chapter  of  John."  It  is  our 
loss  that  we  can  not  treasure  the  last  savin-'-  of  such  a 
master,  for 

"Tlio  tongues  of  dying  men 
Enforce  attention;  like  deep  harmony  ; 
The  setting  sun.  and  musio  at  the  close, 
As  the  last  taste  of  Bweets,  i~  Bweetest  last, 
Wril  in  remembrance  more  than  things  long  past." 

Yet  they  are  not  needed;  our  brother's  whole  life  was  a 
continued  tyong:  and  memQry,  with  her  faithful  chord,  like 

an   .Kolian    harp,  will    prolong   its   music  till  we,  too,  .- 

On  th<'  first  day  of  August,  1802j  h>'  entered  gentty  into  the 
rest  of  <io.l.  Six  years  ago,  the  last  time  hut  one  it  was 
the  Bpeaker!s  privilege  to  hear  him  from  the-  pulpit,  in  one 
of  those  outbursts  of  strong  emotion  which  we  all  remem- 
ber, he  cxclained:  ••  1  am  often  very  weary — weary  with 
work. .  feeble  body  reels  beneath  its  accumulated  toils; 

weary  in  struggling  with  my  own  distrustful  and  unbeliev- 
ing  heart;  weary  with  tin'  wickedness  of  men,   and  with 


The  lettt   Rev.  Dr.  ThormoiJ.  33 

the  effort  to  pal  B  bridle  upon  human  passions,  and  I  often 
sigh  to  be  at  rest"!  Brother!  ihou  hast  entered  into  rest, 
and  we  are  the  more  weary  for  loss  of  thee! 

The  thread  is  broken  which  has  conducted  us  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave:  in  what  manner  it  haa  been  gathered 
up  by  unseen  hands,  and  woven  into  a  broader  and  brighter 
web  beyond  the  skies,  it  is  not  for  as  yel  to  know.  The 
foregoing  sketch  presents  only  the  connexions  of  his  earthly 
history,  and  the  tacts  which  afford  a  key  to  the  consummate 
excellence  he  achieved.  A  complete  memoir  would 
this  discourse  into  the  proportions  of  a  hook,  and  it  is 
reserved,  we  trust,  for  some  future  day  and  for  some  abler 
hand.  It  only  now  remains  to  consider  the  relation^  in 
which  he  stood  to  society,  and  to  analyze  the  powers  which 
in  their  combination  produced  the  genius  we  have  so  long 
admin  d. 

ry  attribute  of  his  mind,  natural  and  acquired,  G 
him  to  be  the  educator  of  youth,  in  which  relation  he 
stood  so  long  prominently  before  the  public  eye.  The 
range  of  his  learning  was  immense.  Though  he  studied 
severely  certain  great  masters,  his  reading  was  discursive 
and  large:  and  su  titration,  that 

med  to  take  up  knowledge  by  absorption.     It  was 
playfully  said  ol  the  learned  Murdock,  the  Amen 

Mosheim,  that  he  w 
such  intellectual  stores  ui 

pages  of  a  book  at  once.     The  secrel  Lay  in  that  ran 
cipline  by  which  the  attention  wai  id  knot* 

was  inn  i  rnwell   | 

this  £ 

such  control  that,  wl  i  with  an  autl 

was  1<  -t  all  intrusive  thouji  I 

Id  of  wl 
him  i 


•".4  .    ( 'A'  Q 

though  tin-  whole  poem  was  daguerreotyped  apon  the 
bis  memory  j  and,  more  wonderful  still,,  entire  odes 
of  Borace,  when  it  was  certain  the  original  had  not  been 
opened  for  years.  Without  the  aid  of  an  index*  or  any 
artificial  digest,  he  couljJ  refer  to  volume  and  page  of  any 
author  he  had  once  perused.     Bis  memory  could  not  only 

ill.'  logical  contents  of  a  book,  but  the  pr 
language  of  many  extended  passages  which  mosl  impressed 
him.  Besides  the  studies  which  he  had  made  his  specially, 
ccelled  in  other  branches  of  universal  knowledge.  Be 
was  a  ripe  classical  scholar:  Latin  he  could  write  correctly 
and  with  ease,  and  in  Greek  he  was  singularly  proficient. 
The  works  of  A ristotle  lay  always  upon  his  table,  and  he 
revelled  in  the  philosophy  and  poetry  of  Plato.  The  group 
of  scholars  wljo  would  sometimes  with  him  pour  over  tin- 
pages  of  the  Phiedo.  knew  not  which  most  to  admire,  the 
exquisite  finish  of  his  translation,  or  his  philosophic  com- 
mentary  on  the  text  The  Btudy  of  Hebrew  he  had  never 
carried  to  any  remarkable  extent,  but  his  knowlege  was 
sufficienl  for  the  purposes  of  a  careful   i  French 

and  German  he  had  mastered  bo  for  as  to  put  him  in  living 
communion  with  the  literature  of  both  Language's,  and  only 
required  larger  practice  to  render  them  the  medium  of  con- 
versational intercourse.  To  tbe  study  of  mathematics  he 
had  no  original  bias,  and  probably  never  pushed  his  knowl- 
edge beyond  the  pointto  which  a  liberal  college  curriculum 
conducted  him.  lie  certainly  sympathized  in  the  views  01 
Sir  "William  Hamilton  upon  their  precise  value  as  a  method 

of  intellectual  discipline,  and  the  place  they  should  occupy 

in  a  course  of  general  education.  In  belles-lettres  he  was 
far  from  being  deficient  He  had  read  the  beautiful  clas- 
sics of  his  own  and  other  tongues,  and  was  by  no  means 
insensible  to  the  charm6  of  poetry  and  song.  Bui  his 
severer  order  of  mind  led  him  through  more  thorny  paths  ; 
and  bis  ardent  search  after  absolute  and  unadorned  truth 
left  him    little   leisure  to  cull    tbe   beauties  which    wow 


The  lati    Rev.  Br.   Thornwcll.  35 

in  the  flower-beds  of  the  Muses.  But  when  it  pleased  him, 
he  could  selecta  beautiful  bouquel  from  the  garden  of  Bug- 
lish  literature,  and  his  owu  affluent  diction  was  tinged  with 
ife  inimitable  sweetness  and  grace.  Endeed,  the  exqaiaitoc 
Mas  of  hia  Literary  taste  was  a  seriou.-  impediment  with 
him  to  authorship.  Fastidious  as  to  style,  he  conceived 
disgust  for  his  own  writings  as  soon  as  he  departed  from 
that  region  of  argumentative  and  didactic  philosophy  where 
he   was  bo   completely  at  home;   and  upon  this  ground 

ted  the  importunities  of  friends  who  were  continually 
urging  him  to  write     lie  lived  to  overcome  and  to  n 
tins  fastidiousness,  but  too  late  for  the  world  to  recover 
what  it  has  thus  lost  forever.    In  history,  both  ancient  and 
modern,  of  the  Church  and  of  the  State,  he  wt  ively 

and  accurately  read  ;  and  could  enforce  argument  by  many 
an  apposite  appeal  to  the  recorded  experience  of  mankind: 
and  no  one  generalised  more  safely  the  practical  conclu- 
sions which  should  be  drawn  from  its  universal  teachings. 
In  natural  science  he  had  never  carried  his  researches 
through  the  many  departments  in  which  it  is  now  subdi- 
vided.    His  information    was   not,   therefore,  minute :   but 

•  neral  knowledge  was  accurate  and  full,  and  he  some- 
adorned  hia  discourse   with    beautiful    illustrations 
drawn  from  the  ai  of  the  material  world.     He  hat 

been  i  of  disparaging  the  natural  as  a  pail 

of  liberal  education,  in  which  ws 

misapprehension  of  his  true  positiom  EL  oertah  j  did  not 
estimate  them  highly  as  instrumi  tal  discipline, 

and   i  d    them   a   -mall   place  in  tl 

education  which  is  intended  to  discipline  and  tram  the 
Blind.      B  would    give   them   ample   verge   ii 

btoader  which   I 

adorn-  it  with  various  Icnowli  .ply   shir 

ium  to  the  unh 

D  their  cultivation  as  the  furnitu 

the  diet,  of  ti. 


36  G  / 

• 

The  aceoracy  of  his  knowledge  was  even  mora  won- 
derful than  its  extent  We  aaj  deliberately*,  and  exactly 
what  the  words  imply,  that  we  have  never  known  a 
man  who  made  his  knowledge  ao  peculiarly  his  own. 
It  was  not  learning  codified  in  common-place  books, 
nor  locked  op  in  pigeon-holes  nicety  Labelled  and  tied  op 
op  with  red  tape,  to  be  drawn  forth  from  duel  and  brown 
paper  when  wanted,  bal  it  was  part  and  parcel  of  his  own 
mental  substance.  Whenever  reproduced,  it  oame 
from  his  own  mint,  stamped  with  the  coinage  of  his  own 
jlit.  It  did  not  simply  stmin  through  his  memory, 
like  water  through  a  sieve,  but  it  entered  into  the  boue, 
and  flesh,  and  blood  of  his  own  thinking.  Hence,  he  was 
never  overborne  by  it,  as  too  many  arc.  nor  did  it  impair, 
the  individuality  and  freshness  of  his  mind.  When  he 
wrote  and  Bpoke,  the  Btream  flowed  forth  with  an  even 
fulness,  under  the  pressure  of  ita  own  abundance.  All 
this  entered  into  his  merit  as  an  instructor.  The  variety 
and  depth  of  his  learning  invested  him  with  the  highest 
authority;  while  hie  perfect  command  over  it,  enabled 
him  to  present  truth  antler  any  form  level  to  the  students 
apprehension,  lie  had  the  most  remarkable  facility  of  ex- 
planation:; his  thoughts  ran  in  no  stereotyped  phrases,  but 
could  be  cast  into  a  hundred  moulds,  suited  to  a  hundred 
different  minds.  The  strongest  sympathy,  too,  was; estab- 
lished between  the  teacher  and  his  pupils.  He  never 
wrapped  himself  up  in  an  artificial  dignity,  butwon  all  who 
approached  him  by  the  genial  kindness  of  Ins  temper,  and 
by  the  childlike  simplicity  of  his  address.     Even  under  the 

■■•  inojnisitions  of  the  das— room,  the  pupil  felt  that  his 
teacher  was  his  friend,  and  would  be  his  helper  in  the  pain- 
ful search  for  knowledge  ;  while  in  private,  the  great  man 
let  himself  down  into  the  playfulness  of  a  child,  and  chased 
timidity  away  by  the  unceasing  flow  of  humor  and  sportive 
wit.  Thoroughly  digesting  his  own  knowledge,  he  became, 
as  wc  have  seen,  a  perfect  master  of  the  JSoeratic  method,  of 


The  lat,    Rev.  Br.   Thornwell 

instruction.  BO  difficult  except  in  the  hands  of  a  master. 
Teaching  his  pupils  to  search  for  ultimate  principles,  he 
taught  them  ths  happy  art  of  generalization,  which  is,  after 
all,  the  true  secret  of  large  mental  acquisitions;  for  these 
ascertained  principles  not  only  afford  the  nucleus  around 
which  the  most  diffuse  reading  may  oollecl  itself,  bul  give 
the  key  by  which  the  secret  stores  may  be  unlocked  and 
brought  into  use.  lie  could  not,  therefore,  but  excel  u  an 
instructor  in  those  branches  which  he  particularly  taught. 
For  similar  reasons,  he  was  equally  fitted  to  represent 
and  conduct  the  general  interests  of  education  through  the 

at  Large.     Upon  this  entire  subject  hi-  \ 
strongly  defined.     He  properly  considered  the  discipline  of 
the  mind  to  he  the  first  ohject  of  education  :  to  elicit  its  dor- 
mant powers,  ami  to  train  these  for  vigorous  self-action; 
while  the  mere  acquisition  of  knowledge  he  regarded  as  sec- 
ondary in  time  and  important,     ii,.  therefore  disappi 
the  attempt  made  in    our  American   colleges,   to  cover  the 
whole  area  of  science,  and  to  compass  within  a  four  j 
course,  peculiar  and  professional  stud'..  -.     I  i  -  :   rorite  idea 
•  rict  undergraduates  to  studies  by  which  the  mind 
may  i  i  ally  developed,  and  to  engraft  upon  tl 

ribed  and  compulsory  curriculum, 
tree  of  the  nniv<  i  tern,  with  its 

varied  ap;  ller communication  of  know,. 

He   was  a  warm   advocate  for   conn. 

among  I  I  to  the  idea  that  knowl- 

r  all,  is  diffused  1>\ 
• .  below;  percolating  thi 
to  the  lowest  bed  th  all  his 

I 
the  surest  way  to  quicken  and  enligl 
mass*  roughly  imbued  witl 

- 

for  f: 


38  and  G 

uoa  between  the  two  jurisdictions,  he  resl 
through  life  the  doctrine  which  places  secular  education 
among  the  positive  duties  of  the  Church.     In  her  organised 
capacity,  according  to  hisstricl  construction  of  her  charter, 
inateswith  the  religions  training  of  mankind — 
anctuary,  her  class-room;  the  pulpit,  her  chair;  and 
J<  us.  her  discipline,     [tie  not  the  historian's 
province  to  arbitrate  in  such  a  controversy;  1  >u t  only  to 
represent  opinions  firmly  held  by  the  Bubjecl  of  his  story* 
He  found  able  critics  ijpon  either  hand — those  who  upheld 
in  this  matter  the  prerogative  of  the  Church;  and  those 
who  as  stoutly  denied  his  postulate  touching  the  duty  of 
the  State     It  is  hard  to  swim  against  the  current  of  the 
1 1  i  s  grand  ideal  of  an  institution  which  should  unite 
the  advantages  of  the  gymnasium  with  those  of  the  univer- 
sity, was  never  realised;  and  he  has  left  the  great  problem 
of  education  yei  to  he  solved — how-  to  adjust  the  wide  dif- 
fusion of  knowledge  with  that  breadth  ami  depth  Of  learn- 

.  hich  it  was  the  object  of  his  lite  t.»  secure.  But,  w  ho- 
ever  may  have  differed  from  him  on  these  points,  none 
ever  questioned  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions,  I  >ubted 
the  purity  of  his  motives,  or  denied  the  impulse  which  the 
cause  of  education  received  at  his  hands — an  impulse  chiefly 
due  to  the  personal  influence  which  lias  given  tone  to  60 
many  yet  living,  through  whom  it  will  he  perpetuated  to 
generations  yet  to  come. 

\\r  ahall  be  pardoned  tor  combining  next  the  imiilos- 

OPHBB  and  the  THE0L0G1  \n  :    not  only  because  of  the  natural 

affinity  between  the  two,  hut  because  of  their  actual  coin- 
junction  in  the  history  and  labors  of  l>r.  Thornwell.  In 
them  we  have  the  ripest  fruits  of  his  genius,  and  upon 
these  two  pillars  the  whole  of  his  future  fame  must  rest. 
We  have  Been  that  his  mind  was  early  biased  towards 
philosophy — it  would  probably  have  been  determined  in 
this  direction  by  its  inherent  proclivity.  The  culture 
through  which  it  subsequently  passed,  places  him  without 


The  laic  Em  />>-.   Thornwetti 

a  peer  in  this  department  After  the  splendid  euloginm 
which  he  has  pronounced  upon  Sir  William  Hamilton — 
••in  depth  and  aooteness  of  mind  i  rival  of  Aristotle,  in 
immensity  of  learning  a  match  for  Leibnitz,  in  compre- 
hensiveness of  thoughl  an  equal  to  Bacon'1 — it  may  t 
a  perilous  ponmexioti  to  mention  the  name  of  the  impas- 
sioned paneygyrisl  himself.  I  »nt  truth  demands  the  utter- 
ance of  the  conviction  that,  after  EamiltOn,  no  mind  was 
more  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  philosophy  than 
his.  It  is  unfortunate  that,  aside  from  the  aroma  which 
breathes  through  all  his  writings,  the  evidence  of  his  splen- 
did acquisitions  can  be  gathered  only  from  monographs; 
and  those  upon  topics  which  rather  implicate  philosophy 
than  lie  wholly  within  its  domain,    lie  was  unquestionably 

r  01  its  history,  from  its  dawn  amidst  ti  i 
Greece,  through  the  mid-day  slumbers  in  which  it  ■; 
witli  tin'  Schoolmen,  to  the  frenzied  and  fantastic  dreai 
our  modern  transcendentalists.      Passing  through  all  the 
schools  into  which  her  followers  have  been  divided,  and 
acquainted  with  every  Bhade  of  opinion  by  which  the] 
distinguished,  the  fan  <>t  his  own  criticism  winnowed  the 
chaff  from   the  wheat:    and  whatever  contribution 
school  or  Age  may  hav<-  ma  imrnon 

d  into  the  chambers  of  liis  memory. 
The  traits  which  specially  chara*  teri  illa- 

tion- were,  modest]   ami   earnestness  in  th< 

ve  truth.     Hi-  first  •  ftorl  w  ■■  k  the  1.. 

aeon;  within  whose  limit-  he  thought  with  all  the  • 
and  self-reliance  charao  terisl 
own  .  rhioh  h< 

himsell  to  Ee  was  thu  d  from  thai  pr<  sump- 

rationalism  which  so  much 
i 

m  tie'  pi 


40  ' ,       ■  >  of 

d  its  tone  to  reel  on  theories,  however  splendid* 
anleee  he  could  discover  a  solid  basis  apon  which  to  build 
them,  it  was  ii.it  content  simply  with  beating  the  air  with 
it.-  wings, however  high  it  might  sour;  nor  did  he  ever  mis- 
take the  fantastic  Bcenery  of  the  clouds  for  the  mountain 
landscape  of  which  be  was  in  search.  Taking  his  departure 
from  the  LI i ; ir  1 « ^  1 1  and  Scotch  schools,  that  all  our  knowledge 
begins  in  experience,  he  concurred  with  these  in  the  doctrine 
of  fundamental  beliefs  as  essential  to  experience,  and  by 
which  alone  it  is  made  available.  He  struck  thus  a  middle 
course  between  the  doctrine  which  makes  the  mind  only  a 
passive  recipient  of  impressions,  working  op  the  materials 
it  gathers  from  without,  and  the  antagonist  view  which 
finds  in  the  mind  itself  the  data  of  all  knowledge,  "of  which 
universal  and  ail-comprehensive  principles  the  reason  is 
held  to  be  the  complement."  Ee  was  able  thus  to  steer 
safely  between  the  Bcylla  and  Charibdis  of  philosophy ;  be- 
tween the  Atheistic  materialism  of  the  French  Encyclope- 
dists 00  the  one  band,  and  the  pantheistic  audacity  of  the 
Gtarman  rationalists  upon  the  other.  Hi-  oonsistenl  and 
intelligible  doctrine  held  that,  while  knowledge  begins  in 
experience,  yet  "experience  must  include  conditions  in  the 
subject  which  make  it  capable  of  intelligence."  "There 
must  be,"  he  says,  "a  constitution  of  mind  adapted  to  that 
specific  activity  by  which  it  believes  and  judges."  The 
mind  is,  therefore,  "subjected to  laws  of  belief  under  which 
it  must  necessarily  act" — "certain  primary  truths  involved 
in  its  very  structure."  As  "undeveloped  in  experience, 
these  do  not  exist  in  the  form  of  propositions  or  general  con- 
ceptions, but  of  irresistible  tndeneies  to  certain  manners  of 
belief,  when  the  proper  occasions  shall  be  afforded."  But 
"when  developed  in  experience,  and  generalized  into  ab- 
stract BtatementS,  they  are  original  and  elementary  cogni- 
tions, the  foundation  and  criterion  of  all  knowledge.''  While, 
however,  "the  laws  of  belief  qualify  the  subject  to  know, 
they  can  not  give  the  things  to  be  known.     These  are  fur- 


Tfu  M    Rev.   Dr.   TkornweU.  41 

nished  in  ex]  .  which  thus  not  only  affords  the  occa- 

sions on  which  <>ur  primiti  nitiona  are  developed,  but 

also  the  -  bonl  which  <>ur  faculties  are  conversant." 

Starting  from  these  principles,  it  i  same 

reform  is  carried  into  mental  phil<  whieh  long 

Ins  be<  d  ft(  hi<  ?ed  in  the  natural  or  |  The  knowl- 

substantive  and  real ;  because  it  is  :i  knowl- 

our  appre- 
ed  by  ol  u.  and  of 

being  lized  by  induction.   The  mind,  insl  being 

lations  which  transcend  its  limil  with 

confidence  upon  thos  ive  truths  which  i1  is 

tinually  to  Verify.  But  it  would  be  idle  to  map  out,  in  this 
connexion,  the  whole  Bcheme  ol  philosophy  wrought  out  by 
Dr.  Thornwell  through  the  studies  of  a  long  lit".  Tims 
much  has  aid  to  indicate  the  position  which  he  i 

mly  for  the  positive  and  the  real  in  all  his 
ffis  mind,  from    its   modesty  an 
united.-,  d  safely.     Feeling  the  ground  beneath  his 

feet  al  .  with  fixed  prin  guidance,  he 

wrought  within  this  broad  field  of  observation  and  ii 
tion,  in  the  lai  who  has  described  him,  with 

''an  i  mind  that  rvelloas,  with  a  quick- 

and  rapidity  of  thought  n< 
d.  and  with  a  po*  i  if  by  the 

touch  of  the 
into  its  simph 

T>r.  Thornwell'i  in  philosophy  w\ 

him  :  ian  :  if  ] 

the  hound-  of  not  likely  to  trans- 

cend them  in  the  other.  ited  with   tl 

that  G  be  known  only  i  n  pleased 

I 

I 
■    ■ 
-•ian.     11 
6 


i_'  /,,/",.   <  ■,  ■■■  ■  -,  .-.  and  Q 

■■:  and  wherever  he  found  a  "thus  Baitb  the  Lord,"  lie 

1  to  reason  and  began,  to  worship.     9e  first  sought, 

by  a  most  careful  -  rtain  the  meaning  of 

God's  word;  then  »••  collate  and  classify,  until  he  built  up 

itematicl  _   ,    As  the  inductive  philosopher  ranges 

through  nature,  collects  his  facts,  and  builds  up  his  science ; 
so  the  theologian  ranges  up  and  down  the  inspired  record, 
collects  its  doctrines  as  they  are  Btrewn  in  magnificenl  pro- 
fusion through  the  histories,  narratives,  poems,  epistles,  and 
predictions  of  the  Bible,  and  in  the  same  spirit  of  caution 
constructs  his  scheme  of  divinity.  The  system  deduced  by 
our  brother  from  this  venerable  and  authoritative  testimony, 
was  precisely  that  articulately  set  forth  in  the  Westminster 
Confession.  It  was,  in  hia  view,  the  only  complete  system 
of  truth  which  a  thorough  and  candid  exposition  could 
extract  from  the  Bib}e<  By  many,  doubtless,  be  has  been 
regarded  as  extreme  in  some  of  his  theological  views;  a  pre- 
judice founded,  perhaps,  upon  the  positive  tone  with  which 
his  convictions,  like  those  of  all  earnest  men.  were  an- 
nounced, and  the  fervid  zeaJ  with  which  they  were  cherished 
and  defended.  Never  was  a  prejudice  more  unfounded. 
Ilis  examination  was  too  cautious,  and  his  knowledge  too 
exact,  to  allow  extravagance  in  any  single,  direction.  His 
theology  was  uncommonly  symmetrica]  in  its  proportions. 
He  knew  the.  limitations  upon  every  single  doctrine,  and 
the  relations  of  all  in  a  common  system,  by  which  they  are 
checked  and  qualified.  There  could  be  no  overlapping;  for 
every  part  was  go  sharply  cut  and  defined,  and  the  articula- 
tions were  so  close,  that  to  a  mind  severely  Logical  the  whole 
must  stand  or  fall  together.  We  think  it  doubtful  if  a  -in- 
gle instance  can  be  produced,  in  all  his  writings  or  in  his 
extemporaneous  addresses,  of  that  extravagance,  even  in 

language,  which  so  shocks  a  pious  ear,  and  by  which  the 
forcible-feeble  amongsl  us  often  attempt  to  make  the  truth 
intense.  Always  earnest  indeed,  he  was  remarkably  exact 
and  logical  in  his  statements  of  doctrine ;  cautious  uot  to  go 


Th  i«t'    Re*.  Dr.   TkomwtU. 

be}'ond  the  clear  testimony  of  the  written  word,  and  careful 
never  to  disturb  the  harmony  subsisting  between  the  truths 
themselv<  onstituent  memb  >ne  entire  system ; 

and  always  relying  upon  the  simple  majesty  of  the  truth  to 
carry  its  own  convictions  to  a  loyal  understanding.     EBfl 
discussions  were  exhaustive  and  profound,  bringing  all  the 
light  of  philosophy  to  elucidate  the  principles  of  religion; 
which,  as  to  their  substance,  could  only  be  derived  by  a  di- 
revelation  from  Jehovah  him 
W"e  next  turn  to  view  Dr.  Tnornwell  in  rafi  pulpit,  an 
ambassador  of  God  to  sinful  men.    And  her<-  may  b 
•  1  of  him  whal  \  1  with  so  much  emphac 

Ebeneeer  Erslrine,  that  "he  who  never  heard  him,  i 
heard  the  Gk)spel  in  its  majesty."    From  all  that  has  I 
said  of  his  logical  proclivity  and  scholastic  training,  it  may 
be  rightly  inferred  that  his  preaching  was  addressed  pre- 
dominantly  to  the  understanding:  we  do   not  mean,  of 
course,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  heart,  as  we  Bhall  presently 
see.     But,  looking  upon  man  as  a  being  of  intelligence,  and 
upon  the  truth  as  the  instrument  of  sanctification, ] 
that  truth  to  knock  at  th<  '  the  understanding  until 

she  was  admitted  and  entertained.  Be  had  a  sublime  faith 
in  tin  "  and  power  of  truth,  and  in  God's  ordained 

method  of  n  achii  through  the  proclamation 

of  lli>  wr.nl.     Eschewing  all  to  work  upon  ti 

perficial  i  i    to  play  upon   natural  sympatl 

94  '1  himself  in  <  I  the  whoh    truth 

tal  principle 
men.    Bis  analytic  power  wu  richly  display  d  in  the  pulpit 
The  deai 

ment.     Btri]  :  if  all  that  w 

titioue  or  .  ..;:.i'.  ral,  be  laid  bar 
principle  upon  which  it  turn< 

■   untrained  I  • 
what  wm  to  b< 

bending 


44  /.  /  .    (  G        8  of 

to  one  conclusion;   towards  which  the  hearer  was  carried, 
with  his  will  L  captive  in  chains  of 

could  do  where  be  broken.  i  had  woo  Lta 

way  t«>   the   i  ion,  and  the  mind 

own  into  a  Btate  of  complete  submission,  the 
argument  would  be  gathered  up*in  its  i  and  pra 

.  and  hurled  upon  the  coj  •  impelling 

either  the  confession  of  guilt  upon  the  one  hand,  or  the  moat 
complete  stultification,  of  reason  on  the  other.  These  ap- 
-  to  the  heart  were  often  fearful  in  their  solemnity.;  and 
all  the  more,  as  being  based  upon  the  conviction  of  the  un- 
derstanding, previously  gained.  They  were  not  Bimple  ex- 
hortation :  Inn  a  judicial  finding  in  the  court  Of  the  hearer's 
own  conscience.  The  preacher  stood  then'  as  an  atto 
from  heaven,  to  indict  and  prosecute  the  sinner;  the  plead- 
ing has  been  heard,  and  the  argument  for  his  conviction  is 
concluded;  and  the  -inner  hears  only  the  sentence  of  con- 
science, from  its  throne  of  judgment,  echoing  through  ail 
the  chambers  of  the  soul,  it  was  upon  tins  plan  most  of 
the  discoi  this  matchless  preacher  were  formed.     It 

red  little  whether  the  exposition  was  of  moral  law  or 
3pel  grace;  there  was  the  Bame statement  and  enforce- 
ment of  eternal  and  immutable  principles,  and  the  same 
judicial    finding  of  guilt   and   shame,  whether  the   form  of 
offence  was  against   the  one  or  the  other.     We  have  de- 
scribed J)r.  Thornwell  as  being  predominantly  argumenta- 
tive.    He  was  not,  however,  polemic.     Indeed,  the  cm-rent 
of  his  argument  was  too  rapid  and  vehement  to  pause  and 
deal  with   unpugners  and  their  -mail  objections.     It  was 
the  rushing  down  pf  the  .Nile,  swollen  with    Its   mountain 
tributaries,  and  bursting  through  the  sedge  which  impedes 
He  rightly  judged  that  to  build  up  truth  in  its 
ive  form  was  the  better  way  to  remove  difficulties, 
which  in  its  light  soon  come  to  appear  as  mere  imper- 
tinenc 


The  i-it,    Rev.   Dr.   Thornwdt. 

Nor  were  hia  public  efforts  always  thus  exclusively  i 
mentative.  Be  i  fc  •  lied  in  the  exposition  of  Scripture  . 
had  be  nol  chosen  to  I  as,  he  might  have 

been  the  first  of  commei  I  analytical  talent  was 

brought  richly  into  play.     It  dealt  little  in  dry,  verbal  crit- 
:  but,  after  a  sum  seized 

the  great  principles  which  were  inv<  d  marshalled 

in  their  proper  order— 
which,  with  all  hia  dogmatism,  w< 
pie  in  Haldane  ;  and  • 
ful  to  the  genei  .  a-  pn 

their  logical   connexion  mind.     His  relat 

moro 

him  into  much  pn  ■  upon  the  common  d 

of  life;  characterized  still  by  the 
final  principles  which,  either  i  mining  the  aatui 

morality  ific  rules  for  the  conducl 

vealed  the  strong  thinker  and  the  practical  mi 

Bu'  <ure  most  remarkable  in  this  prince  of  pulpit 

orator  I  he  rare  union  a^  rigorous  logic  wi 

emotion.     He  rea  ^r     but    never   coldly. 

■  truth  only  in  what  Bacon  oalk  "the  dry 
light  deed,  but  without  the 

which  a\  .  ;i  the 

polar  the  poli 

face  a 

tiou  \\  bid    it   every  Dr.  1 

ml  warmed  with  th< 

.  'it-,  and 

own     i  :    and    th- 

>  him  1 

j 
tarce,  he  could  not  j 


46  /./'  .  0 

with  the  freezing  :i  philosopher.     As  the  flood 

of  hie  discour  eive  the  ground-swell 

from  beneath,  the  heaving  tide  of  passionate  emotion  which 

rolled  it  on.     Kindling  with  b  I   inspiration  as  he  pro- 

d,  lii-  manner  lost  iis  Blight  constraint ;  all  angularity 

nd  ungracefulnees  of  posture  Buddenly  disap- 

spasmodic  shaking  of  the  head  entirely  ceased ; 

his  slender  form  dilated :  his  deep  black  eye  lost  its  droop- 

■! :  the  soul  came  and  looked  forth,  lighting  it 

up  with  a  Btrange,  unearthly  brilliancy;  his  frail  body  rocked 

and  trembled  as  under  a  divine  afflatus,  as  though  the  im- 

t  soul  wouid  rend  its  tabernacle  and  fly  forth  to  < 
and  heaven  upon  the  wings  of  his  impassioned  words;  until 
his  fiery  eloquence,  rising  with  the  greatness  of  his  concep- 
tions, would  burst  upon  the  hearer  in  some  grand  climax, 
overwhelming  in  its  majesty  and  resistless  in  its  effect  In 
all  thi9,  a>  may  be  conceived,  there  was  no  declamation,  no 
"histrionic  mummery,"  no  straining  for  effect,  nothing 
approaching  to  rant.  All  was  natural,  the  simple  product 
oi  thought  and  feeling  wonAgrfully  combined.  We  Baiw 
the  whirlwind  as  it  rose  and^nhered  up  the  waters  <u"  the 
we  saw  it  in  its  headlong  course,  and  in  the  bursting 
of  it-  power.  ITowever  vehement  his  passion,  it  was  justi- 
fied by  the  massive  thought  which  engendered  it:  and  in 
all  the  storm  of  his  eloquence,  the  genius  Of  Logic  could  be 
seen  presiding  over  its  elements,  and  guiding  its  course. 
The  bearer  had  just  that  sense  of  power,  which  power  gives 
when  seen  under  a  measure  of  restraint.  The  speaker's 
fulness  was  not  exhausted  ;  language  only  failed  to  convey 
what  \\as  left  behind. 

But  this  picture  would  be  inoomplete,  if  we  tolled  to 
speak  of  the  magnificent  diction  which  formed  the  vesture 
of  his  noble  thoughts.    "It  is,"  says  one,  "the'piuma 

the  royal  bird  which  bears  him  upward  to  the  -im  :  "  and 
Dr.  Thornwell  WftS  far  from  being  insensible  to  the  power 
of  language.     In  his  early  life,  it  was  with  him  an  aft'ec- 


The  lai    Rev.   Dr.   Thornweli. 

donate  study;  and  in  later  years,  it  wan  hit  habit  before 
any  great  public  effort  to  tone  hia  Btyle  by  reading  a  few 

pages  from  le  master  in  composition — sometimes  it  was 

a  passage  from  Robert  Sail,  sometimes  of  Edward  Gibbon, 
sometimes  of  Edmund   Burke,  sometimes 
Milton;   but  oftener  y«t  In-  drank  from  thai  old  well  of 
eloquence,  Demosthenes  for  the  Crown.     Hi-  spoken  style 
was  unquestionably,  however,  the  ■_  result  of  his  life's 

study.  IIi>  habits  of  close  thinking  exacted  a  choice  of 
words.  AW'  think  in  language,  however  unconaciou 
may  be  of  the  process.  It  i-  the  only  embodiment  of 
thought,  without  which  we  can  not  represent  it  to  ourselves. 
re,  is  not  so  much  cut  and  fitted  to  tip'  thought 
by  an  artificial  and  secondary  labor,  a.-  it  i-  woven  by  the 
thought  in  the  course  of  its  own  developement.  II-  mce  tin- 
precision  which  uniformly  characterized  Dr.  Thorn  well's 
He  was,  above  other  men,  a  close  thinker:  a  thinker 
who  had  daily  to  think  his  thoughts  aloud  in  the  b 

ipils.     The  utmost  exactness  in  langu  required 

by  the  studies  of  his  department     The  Bubtle  spirit  of  phi- 

hy  could  only  be  held,  as  it  was  caught  and  i t  1 1 j •  i i ~ 
in  the  precise  word  which  fitted  it ;  and  so  his  whole  « i 
a  training  t'<>r  himself  as  a  master  in  - 
which  he  pursued  so  diligently  when 
young,  and  which  were  never  remitted  ev<  □  to  tl  • 
his  life,  were  a  continued  i  on  of  Is  i  that, 

in  a  thousand  oases,  you  shall  not  find  a  ripe  scholar  who 
is  not  equally  a  finished  writer.     In  add,: 
pious  reading  opened  to  him  the  whole  vocabulary  of  his 
nativ. 

full  man  ;   writing,  an 
man.''     I  >i.  Tl  ornwell  was  all  three,  habitually,  and  thl 

a  long  lit-',     lb'  read  abundantly, and  in  all  -. 

formi  Bui  it  w. 

,  oi   precision  with  ruli  d  his 


Q 

utterance  -  Btyle 

md  impeachment.     I  _rli t  word 

for  the  thought,  and  tb  ilary  of  language 

could  not  have  furnished  a  substitute;  while,  in  the  ampli- 
i\<\r:  Lh ought,    hia   mind,  like  a  kaleidoe 

an  infinite  variety  of  terms,  and  the  Bame  com- 
never  palled  by  repetition.     To  this  precision  ami 
copiousm  added  a  richness  of  expression,  a 

court  f  style;  which  can  only  be  explained  by  the 

if  his  thought,  which  disdained  to  appear  in  the 
38  of  the  clown. 
To  understand  I  >r.  Thornwell'a  power  in  the  pulpit,  these 
al  elements  must  be  combined — his  powerful  logic, 
hie  passionate  emotion,  hi  -of  which  it  may 

Lord  Brougham's,  that  "he  wielded  the  club 
of  Hi  !  with  i  5  neration  will 

r  look  upon  his  like  again;  a  single  century  can  not 
aJFord  to  ;  I.     We  Bhall  listen  to  much  lucid 

exposition,  much  ful  reasoning,  much  ten- 

der and  earnest  appeal,  much  beautiful  and  varied  ima. 
But  i  in  from  one  man  Bhall  our  bouIb 

irred  by  vigor  of  argument  fused  by  a  seraph'B  glow, 
and  pouring  itself  forth  in  Btraina  which  linger  around  the 
memory  like  the  chant  of  angels.  Since  his  death,  we  have 
heard  the  regret  expressed  that  his  unwritten  sermons  had 
not  been  preserved  through  the  labors  of  a  reporter.  It  is 
well  the  attempt  was  never  made  Dr.  Thornwell  could 
not  have  been  reported.  The  Bpell  of  his  eloquence  would 
have  paralyzed  the  skill  of  the  most  accomplished  Bti 

vapher.     But  if  not,  what  invented  symbols    could   COI 

thai  kindling  eye,  those  trembling  and  varied  tones,  the 
expressive  attitude,  the  foreshadowing  and  typical  gesture, 
the  wnole  quivering  frame,  which  made  up  in  him  the  com- 
plement of  the  finished  orator?  It  were  as  vain  to  sketch 
the  thunder's  roar  or  the  lightning's"  Hash — to  paint  the 
fleecy  cloud  or  the  white  crest  of  the  ocean   wave.     No! 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.   Thornwell.  49 

the  orator  must  live  through  tradition  :  and  to  make  that 
tradition  these  feeble  words  are  uttered  by  me  tonight. 

We  transfer  Dr.  Thorn  well,  and  view  him  next  in  the 
church  courts,  tlic  ecclesiastical  statesman.  Were  we  not 
addressing  those  perfectly  conversant  with  the  fact,  we 
should  fear  to  presenl  this  man  of  the  closet  as  the  v, 
of  practical  counsellors.  Yt't  the  combination,  though  rare, 
is  not  unexampled.  Paul,  the  writer  and  logician  among 
the  tpostles,  was,  above  them  all,  the  man  of  action*  lie 
had  upon  him  the  care  of  all  the  churches,  and  was  not 
inferior  to  the  practical  James  in  executive  direction. 
vin,  the  great  writer  and  expositor  of  the  Reformation,  bore 
upon  his  shoulders  the  weight  of  the  Genevan  state.  So 
solid  was  his  judgment,  that  all  portions  of  the  Reformed 
Church  turned  to  him  for  advice;  and  the  burden  of  his 
correspondence  alone  would  have  overwhelmed  any  ordi- 
nary man.  So  with  him  whose  memory  we  cherish  this 
day.  In  every  sphere  in  which  he  moved — whether  as  a 
professor  in  the  college  faculty,  or  as  a  trustee  in  its  hoard 
of  administration,  or  in  the  broader  area  of  an  ecclesiastical 
council — he  was  remarked  for  his  practical  good  sense,  and 
became  a  leader  among  equals.  One  secret  of  this  i>  found 
in  the  fact  that  his  principles  of  action  were  all  settled. 
They  were  not  left  t<>  be  gathered  ap  in  the  hurry  i 
emei _  mid  the  dust  ai  of  debate;  hut 

antecedently  determined,  and  n<>  temptation  could  induce 
him  to  swerve  from  their  maintenance.  No  man  was  ever 
less  under  the  goida  diency  than   he, 

whetl,  '  ■•<■  prival  ^fse  of 

man  with  man,  or  ranged  upon  a  big  D   matters 

Of  public  |  ohMhat  so  -hitting  a 

rule  M  that  ol  I  X] 

consistent  El  nelly 

:  prim  iblio 

.  ity,  ami  I  tides  through  ei 

of  doubt.     In  this  is  found  ^on  between 

7 


50  /.  '•" .   '  .  and  a 

a  rip*  urn  and  the  stock-jobbing  politician :  the  one 

starts  out  with  catholic  and  fandamental  principles,  which 
-  •  n tire  course :  the  other  floats  upon  the  cur- 
rent of  events,  is  borne  off  into  every  eddy,  and  reflects 
little  else  but  tin1  changefulness  of  popular  opinion.  There 
is.  Indeed,  with  the  former,  continual  danger  of  mistake  in 
the  application  of  Lis  banons  to  particular  cases.  But  an 
-i  and  dear  mind,  guarding  itself  against  prejudice 
and  passion,  will  not  often  trip;  hut  will  preserve,  for  the 
most  pari,  «i  manly  and  beautiful  consistency  through  all 
the  shiftings  of  a  public  career. 

Another  element  of  J)r.  Tfcornwell's  influence  in  council 
lay  in  the  caution  with  which  all  his  particular  judgments 
were  formed — waiting  for  a  full  rendering  of  facts*  and 
suspending  his  opinion  until  the  case  had  been  considered 
on  every  side.  Even  in  the  intimacy  of  private  life,  this 
cautiousness  marked  his  utterances.    An  ini  se  of 

justice  and  ran-  integrity  of  heart  seemed  to  check  a  pre- 
mature expression.  Thus  he  was  Beldom  constrained  to 
retract  his  judgments.  lie  was  preserved,  on  the  one 
hand,  from  the  weakness  of  vacillation,  and  on  the  other, 
from  the  criminal  obstinacy  of  adhering  to  opinions  which 
ought  to  yield  under  the  pressure  of 'convincing  reasons. 
Public  confidence  was  continually  challenged  by  this  pru- 
dence of  reserve,  which  had  its  springs  alike  in  the  dictates 
of  wisdom  and  of  moral  propriety.  He  found  an  advan- 
tage, too,  in  the  rapidity  of  his  mental  operations  sweeping 
him  on  to  his  conclusions,  far  in  advance  of  others.  His 
woneprful  power  of  analysis  resolved  complexities  in  which 
others  were  entangled  :  and  whilst  they  were  searching  for 
the  clue  by  whic^  to  extricate  themselves,  he  had  already 
seized  the  ultimate  principle  which  unravelled  all  difficul- 
ties and  settled  every  donbti  Nor  should  we  omit,  in  this 
enumeration  of  his  praetica I  Qualities,  a  certain  po.-itiveness 
of  mind,  which  lifted  him  above  the  danger  of  indecision, 
and,  as  if  by  a  sort  of  internal  necessity,  compelled  him  to 


Tin    late    Rev.  Dr.   Thornwell.  51 

frame  a  positive  judgment  upon  every  issue*  It  is  the 
infirmity  of  some  minda  to  be  always  trembling  upon  the 
balance,  incapable  of  deciding  whether  to  descend  upon 
this  side  or  apon  that  of  every  question.  These  are  the 
unfortunate  incapables  who  swell  the  list  of  non-liquets  on 
the  record*  of  our  Church  oourta  :  or  who,  in  their  despera- 
tion, leap  blindly  upon  ;i  vote,  as  ;<  mat  would  leap  from  ;i 
railway  train,  nol  knowing  whether  he  will  land  upon  a 
bed  of  aand  or  in  a  brake*  of  thorns.  Oil  the  contrary, 
every  deliberative  body  reveals  examples  <>t  men  who,  by 
their  greater  positiveness  of  mind  and  character,  lead  those 
far  superior  to  them  in  ability  and  general  attainments — 

in  whom  strength  oi  will  and  decision  of  chai 
stand  in  the  stead  of  intellectual  power.  In  a  body  of 
counsellors,  the  ready  always  lead  the  unready.  From  the 
imbecility  here  rebuked,  Dr.  Thornwell  was  perfectly  free. 
In  every  situation  lie  could  not  but  think — if  difficulties 
embarrassed  any  question,  he  only  thought  with  more 
intensity — but  he  always  thought  to  a  conclusion.  If  he 
was  caution-  not  to  -peak  till  his  convictions  were  matured, 

yet  he  always  came  to  time,  and  BO  always  led. 

the  moral  quality  which  d  him  unbounded  in- 

!■  was,  1  rty  of  hi* 

heart.     I  !■  ■-.  a-  no  inl  bad  no  i  plish, 

rked  by  indirection.     His  h  in  his 

y  man   could    read    it.      WM< 
the  i  1  to  be  engrave^  upon  hi-  I 

believed,  tie  '  I    spoken  ;  '"   and 

None  doubted  tie  utterani 

trap  to  catch  the  feet  of  I  ?ard  him* 

\  with  hi 
arry  his  poii 
Winning  confid<  ooe  thai  by  his  manly  and  trutbl  il  b< 
Qcy  ol  h  id  with  lift  .• 

imbed  under 
def  i 


52  I .'n\   Character,  and  Ge?rius  of  * 

For  nil  the  duties  of  a  churchman*  Dr.  Thormvell  was 
perfectly  equipped.     Be  had  sifted  the  control  hich, 

through  eighteen  centuries,  have  been  waged  touching  the 
organization  of  the  Church,  and  had  deduced  from  the 
writings  of  the  apostles  the  principles  which  are  funda- 
mental to  her  existence  through  all  coming  time.*  He  had 
studied  with  care  the  constitution  of  his  own  church,  from 
those  great  principles  which  underlie  bar  whole  polity,  to 
the  minutest  rule  of  order  for  her  internal  management; 
and  no  man  ever  surpassed  him  as  an  expounder  of  her 
laws.  He  was  also  versed  in  those  parliamentary  rules  by 
which  deliberative  assemblies  are  usually  governed;  and 
thus,  upon  every  hand,  was  fitted  to  be  a  leader  in  our  eccle- 
siastical councils.  Over  the  entire  church  he  wielded  the 
influence,  though  not  clothed  with  the  jurisdiction,  of  an 
acknowledged  primate.  The  chnrch  signalized  her  appre- 
ciation of  his  abilities,  not  only  by  Conferring  upon  him  the 
highest  honor  in  her  gift,  that  of  once  presiding  over  her 
highest  court,  but  also  by  calling  him  to  the  most  responsi- 
ble and  difficult  duties  in  all  her  assemblies.  Both  before 
and  since  the  rupture  of  our  national  and  ecclesiastical 
bonds,  the  delicate  task  of  revising  her  code  of  discipline 
was  twice  placed  mainly  in  his  hands.  Great  as  her  loss 
may  be,  when  she  mourns  over  the  greatest  of  her  theolo- 
gians and  preachers,  it  will  be  felt  heaviest,  in  this  day  of 
genera]  reconstruction,  now  that  her  wisest  statesman  is 
removed  from  her  connc.ls.  .Never  was  there  an  hour,  ac- 
cording  to  human  view,  when  she  could  have  spared  him 
les3;  now,  in  the  infam-.y  of  her  new  national  existence, 
when  her  public  policy  needs  to  be  dialled,  and  the  prin- 
ciples clearly  announced  upon  which  her  great  enterprises 
are  to  be  conducted,  he  that  had  the  ear  and  the  heart  of 
the  whole  country  is  taken  away,  and  the  bereaved  church 
covers  her  head  with  a  mantle,  and  sits  a  mourner  beside 
his  grave.  May  it  not  be  that  he  lie  who  is  supremely 
jealous  of  His  own  honor  has,  for  a  purpose,  smitten  our 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.    Thormcell  53 

trust  in  a  human  arm,  and  challenges  a  sublime  faith  in  His 
own  power  and  grace  to  lead  as  through  all  perils?  [f  this  be 
the  lesson  of  His  providence,  may  His  spirit  seal  it  with  sanc- 
tifying virtue  ii]  '<»n  the  heart  of  the  nation  and  of  the  Church! 
Our  survey  will  be  complete  when  he  hate  view*  d  Dr. 
Thornwell.  in  the  las!  place,  as  \  Christian  avd  a  man.  Of 
an  exceedingly  Bpare  habit,  his  medium  stature  diminished 
by  a  slight  stoop;  with  i  forehead  well  developed,  bat  not 
ample:  the  features  of  his  race  small;  with  i  carrifl 
ili«'  body  rather  marked  by  negligence  than  grace;  bit 
Bonal  |  s  can  not  be  described  as  commanding.     Xel 

he  would  be  singled  out  from  n  convention  of  men  even  by 
a  careless  observer.  His  hair  rivalling  the  raven  in  its 
blackness,  and.  above  all,  his  redeeming  eye,  d<  ep  Bel  and 
black,  and  capable  of  the  utmost  intensity  of  ex 
and  a  certain  air  of  abstraction  upon  his  countenance,  deno* 
ted  a  man  who  was  to  be  separated  from  others,  The  retire- 
ment of  scholastic  life,  and  the  bound  I  had 
within  himself,  withdrew  him  in  a  large  measure  from  gen- 
eral intercourse  with  society.  While  his  official  relations 
sometimes  forced  him  from  seclusion,  and  his  valuable 
counsels  were  invoked   by  many,  he  did  not  ordinarily  put 

amunion  with  the  buttling  world 
around  him.    Though  by  no  ind  while 

arm  sympal  '<  hold  of  life  upon  every  std< 

r  1<>  be  SOUght  than  to  be  bin 

ever  i  might  readily  approach  him:  no  man 

I  himself  repelled  either  by  I  ndif- 

ference  of  his  manner.     In   general  .  for  which  lie 

had  i  .  he  was  rather  thoughtful 

sih-nt  than  communicative.     But  in  ti  •  <<\  his  < 

friends,  and    in   the   I  lily,  he  poi 

tits  of  his  soul.     It  •• 
the  man  was  •  I.     Bndowed  with  ra 

mptied  fa 
Ltd  tboHiOB  of  philosopi  .'.!«ner 


54  I.'/ .   •  G 

mysteries  of  religion,  and  uttered  the  experiences  of  his 
own  hearl ;  or  else,  descending  from  these  graver  topics,  he 
-ported  with  the  i  childhood  Itself  in  banter  and  jest, 

abounding  with   repi  sing  the  glow  of  Ins 

humor,     full  of  anecdote,  and  fond  of  badinage,  his 
tighter  conversation  sparkled  with  wit;  carried  Bometimea 

.  if  one  did  not  recognise  it  as  the  recreation 
mind  that  '  thus  to  unbend  itself,  and  found  its  re- 

freshment only  in  the  easier  play  of  its  own  powers.  His 
affections  were  warm  and  enduring,  often  Leading  him  to 
overestimate  those  in  whom  be  eonlided.  Lifted  by  his 
own  greatness  above  the  tempjtation  of  jealousy,  he  rejoiced, 
without  the  slightest  infusion  of  envy,  in  the  advancement 
of  others.  Generous  in  all  his  instincts,  there  was  no  - 
ti.r  lie  would  not  make  for  his  friends.  Indulgent  to  his 
own  household,  he  passed  through  its  petty  cares  without 
itting  himself  or  them  to  be  corroded  by  the  anxieties 
of  earth :  but,  smoothing  over  disappointments,  be  made 
life's  path  lees  rugged  to  their  feet     Cherishing  in  bis  own 

heart  the  Utmost  loyalty  t(J  truth,  he  was  never  soured  when 

thwarted  in  his  projects;  but  waited  with  sublime  conn* 
dence  for  truth  and  right  to  vindicate  their  own  majesty. 
In  this  way,  the  dew  of  his  youth  was  never  exhaled;  he 
remained  elastic  and  fresh  to  the  last,  no  generous  senti- 
ment or  instinct  of  his  nature  being  withered  by  age;  With 
such  attributes,  he  possessed  the  power  of  all  truly  great 
men,  of  magnetizing  those  brought  under  his  influence/) 
and  it  musl  have  been  a  very  strong  or  a  very  feeble  na- 
ture that  did   not   yield  to   his   attraction.     His  friends  are 

bound  to  him  by  cords  of  affection  which  even  death  will 
prove  unequal  to  break. 

"  He  was  one 
Tli  •  truest  rnanner'd;  such  a  holy  witch 
That  he  enchants  societies  unto  him  : 
Half  all  men's  hearts  were  his." 

As  a  Christian,  it  will  suflice  to  say  that  the  type  of  his 
theology  was  the  type  of  his  experience.     He  was  not  the 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.   Thonwrll. 

man  to  divorce  the  understanding  from  the  heart,     lie  con- 
curred rally  with  all  the   Reformers  in  their  definition  of 
true  faith,  which,  as  Calvin  Bays,  La  "  no!  formed  by  thi 
dition  of  pioua  affecti<  3ent,  hut  the 

assent  itself  consists  in  pious  affection."  In  his  own  lan- 
guage, "the  form  of  Christian  knowledge  is  lov< 
higher  energy  than  bare  speculation;  it  blends  into  indis- 
soluble unity  intelligence  and  emotion:  knows  by  loving, 
and  loves  by  knowing."  Those,  therefore,  entirely  mis- 
conceived him  who  supposed  the  form  of  his  religiout 
perience  bo  1"'  even  predominantly  intellectual ;  a  religion 

rn  principle  alone,  separated  from  th<  usofthe 

heart.     On  the  contrary,  in  his  own  beautiful  exposition, 
"the  mind  sees  not  only  the  reality  of  truth,  l»ut  its  beauty 
and  gJoiy  ;  it  BO  sees  as  to  make  it  feel  :  the  perceptions 
analogous  to  those  of  the  right  and  beautiful,   in  which 
feeling   exactly  expresses   the    intellectual   ener.  His 

inner  life  practically  illustrated  this  happy  union  of  the 
mind  and  heart,  and  revealed  the  "faith  which  worketh  by 
love."     T  sriewi  which  the  theologian  held 

upon  the  nature  of  sin.  bowel  t!  ■   l  inn  in  penitential 

grief  before  tl  ;  the  same  cl<  sition 

given  by  die  one  of  man's  he  iture, 

upon  the  infinite  power  and  riches  of  divine 

:  the  same  clear  di 
sufficiency  of  the  atonement  which  made  t i  from 

which  the  preacher's  dia 
to  throw  the  arms  of  his  affetl  md  the  Baviour  with 

ight;  th<  riction  of  th< 

a  divine  revelation  which   h 
stand  moel  stoutly  in  i 
his  reason  into  the  docilit 

ture  :  tl  htful  su] 

vhich  in  the  class-] 

beneath  nt  reason 


56  Life,   Character,  and  Genius  of 

which  owned  the  majesty  and  eternity  of  divine  law,  brought 
the  will  into  the  subjectioa  of  constant  obedience  to  its 
commands :  the  same  clear  view  of  the  resistless  operatii 

of  the  Iloly  Spirit,  invoked  His  aid  in  the  whole  work  of 
his  own  personal  sanctification  :  and  the  same  srnse  he  en- 
tertained of  the  nature  and  functions  of  the  Chnrch  of  God, 
engaged  him  with  his  whole  heart  in  her  sublime  efforts  to 

evangelize  the  world.  In  short,  a  most  beautiful  harmony 
obtained  between  his  secret  exercises  and  his  public  utter- 
ances. There  was  no  conflict  between  his  preaching  and 
his  prayers.  It  was  not  one  man  in  the  class-room  with  his 
pupils,  and  another  man  in  the  closet  with  his  God  ;  but  a 
delightful  consistency  ran  through  his  character,  both  as  a 
teacher  and  Christian. 

We  only  state  the  great  law  of  the  Christian  life,  when 
we  speak  of  growth — first  the  tender  blade,  and  then  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear.  Dr.  Thornwell  ripened  in  holiness  to 
the  very  hour  of  his  translation.  His  humility  became 
more  profound,  hifl  faith  more  abiding,  his  love  more  glow- 
ing, his  will  chastened  into  deeper  submission.  lie  did  not 
escape  the  discipline  of  sorrow  by  which  the  Lord  retines 
His  people.  The  cup  of  bereavement,  with  its  bitterest  in- 
gredientsj  was  once  and  again  put  to  his  lips.  A  delightful 
softness  was  diffused  over  his  Christian  character.  The 
sharper  and  sterner  features  were  worn  down  into  more 
perfect  symmetry  and  grace.  He  became  more  gentle  in 
his  censures,  more  catholic  in  his  love.  His  views  of  the 
Divine  holiness  and  of  the  Redeemer's  glory,  were  always 
grand;  they  now  became  more  sublime  and  adoring.  He 
rose  above  the  speculations  of  reason,  and  approached  more 
nearly  the  ecstacy  and  rapture  of  a  seraph.  Upon  his  dying 
bed,  the  Holy  Spirit  placed  His  last  seal  upon  his  brow. 
Lying  apparently  unconscious  for  hours,  most  delightful 
smiles  played  over  his  countenance,  like  the  flashings  of  a 
summer  evening's  cloud.  His  last  broken  words,  upon 
which  the  departing  soul  was  borne  into  the  bosom  of  God, 
were  ejaculations  of  wonder  and  of  praise.     "  Wonderful  ! 


The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Thornwell.  57 

beautiful !  nothing  but  space!  expanse,  expanse,  expanse 
and  so  he  passed  upward  and  stood  before  the  Throne. 

Christian  fathers  and  brethren,  it  is  idle  to  utter  words  of 
grief  over  the  irreparable  loss  we  have  sustained. 

"Our  size  of  sorrow, 
Proportioned  to  its  cause,  must  be  as  ^reat 
As  that  which  makes  it." 

There  are  no  words  in  which  it  may  be  embalmed 
brought  forth  into  public  view.  Rather  let  us,  in  the  depth 
of  our  own  sadness,  bow  in  thanksgiving  before  that  Infinite 
Goodness  which  lent  him  to  us  so  long.  We  may,  too, 
lawfully  enter  into  his  joy.  With  our  hearts'  love  twining 
around  him,  we  follow  him  in  hie  sublime  ascension,  and 
heaven  is  brought  nearer  than  before.  Think  of  his  first 
half-hour  in  heaven!  standing  within  the  gates  of  pearl, 
and  looking  with  open  gaze  upon  the  transporting  glories 
:he  scene!  Behold  him  in  personal  communion  with 
those  worthies  of  the  Church  militant  with  whom  on  earth 
he  once  held  refreshing  converse  through  their  precious 
writings ;  sitting  beside  Owen,  and  Howe,  and  Charnock, 
and  Flavel,  and  Baxter,  and  Krskine;  joining  in  immortal 
di.-eourse  with  Luther,  and  Bcza,  and  Melancthon,  and 
Zwingle,  and  Calvin  :  holding  fellowship,  face  to  face,  with 
Peter,  and  with  John,  and  with  the  beloved  Paul,  wh< 
sacred  w«>rd-  had  bo  often  inspired  nil  holiest  eloqn< 
earth;  and  passing  up  through  the  shining  hierarchy,  until 
his  fresh  crown  is  cast  before  the  Lamb,  while  tl  -  of 

the  grand  T-  mple  ring  with  tl  ind 

thir  thousand  and  thousands  of  thou 

the  triumphant  anthem  of  redeeming  gr. 

now,  with  vision  purified 
At  th"  Ewential  Truth,  entirely  h 
From  error,  h<\  investigating 

id  at  pleasure  roves.   >n  wing 

<  >f  h'hv.-,  i  BMMl  ;incicnt  *ag'  i^ara 

wonders  of  the  wondrous  wori 

•8 


